Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI)

Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI)

in the Geographical Information, Meteorological Information and Legal Information Sectors

The opinions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

Dr. Martin Fornefeld

Dr. Gaby Boele-Keimer

Dr. Stephan Recher

Michael Fanning

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Contents

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 The survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.1 The focus of the Directive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.2 The three sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.3 The indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.4 The survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3 Re-use of Geographical Information (GI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.1 GI – PSI holders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.1.1 Responses to the survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.1.2 Organizational structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.1.3 PSI delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.1.4 Web portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.1.5 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.1.6 Data policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.1.7 Price of a standard product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.1.8 Suggestions and remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2 GI – PSI re-users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21


3.2.2 Knowledge of PSI legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.2.3 Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.2.4 Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.2.5 Data volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.2.6 Data policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.2.7 Web portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.2.8 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.2.9 Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3.3 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.3.1 Austria – A new pricing model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3.2 Spain – Free access to GI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3.3 Germany – Public tasks regarding production of leisure maps . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3.4 Conclusions for the Geographical Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

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4 Re-use of Meteorological Information (MI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.1 MI – PSI holders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33



4.1.3 PSI delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

4.1.4 Web portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.1.5 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.1.6 Data policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.1.7 Price of a standard product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

4.2 MI – PSI re-users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42


4.2.2 Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.2.3 Data policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4.2.4 Web portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4.2.5 Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4.2.6 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

4.2.7 Suggestions and Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

4.3 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

4.3.1 EU – ECOMET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4.3.2 Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.4 Conclusions for the Meteorological Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5 Re-use of Legal and Administrative Information (LAI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

5.1 LAI – PSI holders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

5.1.1 Responses to the survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51


5.1.3 PSI delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.1.4 Web portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.1.5 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.1.6 Data policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.1.7 Price of a standard product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.2 LAI – PSI re-users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58


5.2.2 Knowledge about PSI legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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5.2.3 Procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

5.2.4 Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.2.5 Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.2.6 Data policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

5.2.7 Web portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

5.2.8 Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

5.2.9 Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.3 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.4 Conclusions for the Legal Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

6 Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Annex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

The opinions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect

the views of the European Commission.

MICUS Management Consulting GmbH

Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI) in the Geographical

Information, Meteorological Information and Legal Information Sectors

Dr. Martin Fornefeld, Dr. Gaby Boele-Keimer, Dr. Stephan Recher (VCS), Michael Fanning (OCI)

Stadttor 1 • 40219 Düsseldorf, germany

[email protected]

Published March 2009

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Executive Summary

Conclusion from the research is undoubtedly positive: Although the PSI Directive was not

fully transposed into all Member States until 2008, it has already sparked positive effects .

The re-use of PSI is increasing in all three sectors of public information, which have been

individually scrutinized in this study . However, the impact of the Directive varies within

the sectors .

The PSI Directive has had its strongest impact in the sector of geographical information

(GI) . The GI market is growing all across Europe; the income of GI re-users is increasing

(for 66% of respondents) and the market is enriched by new re-user groups which offer

innovative applications for geographical information . The National Mapping and Cadastral

Agencies (NMCA) of Spain and Austria have made significant changes to their data

policies, and they provide very good examples of pricing and licensing models oriented

to re-use .

But there are also other public holders of GI that are aware of the Directive and have

introduced significant changes that have been triggered by the Directive (reported by 54%

of NMCA’s) . Many changes refer to technical issues such as data formats and modes of

delivery; GI is increasingly offered on Internet portals or via web services .

Re-users of GI confirm that holders have improved their delivery services in recent years .

It is particularly the speed of delivery and the formats offered that have improved, in their

eyes . Although they still complain about restrictive licensing and high prices, they have

also highlighted some positive changes referring to pricing and licensing (34% and 28% of

positive replies respectively) . Here, good examples may support other holders in setting up

new licensing conditions and encouraging them to reduce their prices .

The large majority (79%) of private re-users of GI would like to access more public GI, but

some do not take it up, primarily because of unfavourable pricing and licensing conditions .

Nevertheless, there is clearly a significant demand for GI . In order to meet this demand it

is important to improve the delivery conditions rapidly .

In recent years, GI has been made increasingly available by private sources . This leads

to a substitution of public sector information . When stable markets for a certain kind

of geographical information are established, PSI holders should consider reviewing their

range of public tasks .

The study also reveals an impact of the Directive in the sector of legal and administrative

information . Half of the holders have indicated that they have made noticeable changes

in their data policy since 2002, one third of them confirming that the changes have

been brought about by legislation . The majority of them (79%) offer legislative and

administrative information free of charge on the internet .

The market for legal and administrative information is growing; since 2002 an average

increase level of 40% was reported by holders . The majority of re-users have recorded

increasing income . It is in particular those who add value to PSI who have reported

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exceptional growth rates . In addition, several new online information portals have been

set up which offer convenient search tools to access judicial information .

However, the survey also highlights the continuing dissatisfaction expressed by companies

about public authorities . In contrast to other sectors of PSI, in which re-user complaints

are predominantly about pricing and licensing, in the legal sector many of the respondents

criticize the lack of information on what PSI is accessible and where to find it for re-use .

This can be explained by the decentralized organization of the jurisdiction . But importantly,

it could indicate that re-users do not have a successful business relationship with the

public sector .

In the sector of meteorological information, the results of the study suggest that the

Directive has had little impact thus far . Although the National Meteorological Services

(NMSs) have also introduced many changes in their data policy, only five of 25 NMSs have

reported that they changed their data policies based on a change in their national legislation .

Nevertheless, the market for private weather services is growing . Most of the respondents

have recorded an increasing data volume download (for 74% of respondents) and from

those that reported numbers related to income 80% confirmed significant increase in

recent years . However, it can be assumed that the number of companies active in the

meteorological sector in Europe does not exceed 70, which is still a very small number for

a market with such important information as weather and climate .

Re-users complain first and foremost about pricing, transparency and licensing .

Furthermore, in the meteorological sector complaints about discriminatory activities are

particularly high . Many re-users express their wish for an efficient system providing free

meteorological data and unrestrictive licences, as provided by the public authorities in the

United States of America .

As in the other sectors, the large majority of re-users of meteorological information (88%

in the online questionnaire) would like to obtain more PSI from holders . However, due to

unfavourable pricing and licensing they currently refuse an extension of the procurement or

they gather information from other free public sources (such as the US weather services) .

Comparable trends in the PSI market can be observed in all three sectors . Due to recent

activities concerning the data policies of PSI holders, re-users are concerned about the

stability of their business models . For the stable development of the market, it is important

that holders define a consistent strategy about their position in the chain of B2B or B2C

relationships, especially their role towards re-users .

The study reveals that most re-users in all three sectors are neither aware of the PSI

Directive (79% in GI, 58% in MI and 71% in L&AI) nor know about existing rights

concerning re-use requests . So far, there have been few formal complaints from re-users .

One reason is the lack of national initiatives that support requests for re-use; another

seems to be the legal complexity, expense and delays that surround cases involving re-use

requests . The difficulties between holders and re-users often consist of a mix of legal

issues, such as privacy protection, copyright and freedom of information .

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The case studies and telephone interviews carried out to supplement the survey results

confirmed the impression of re-users of discriminatory practices in all three sectors . In this

context, PSI holders often refer to their obligation to comply with compulsory public tasks

as defined by specific laws .

To raise awareness of the Directive within Member States, it is recommended that regular

monitoring of key indicators should be introduced at a European level . The most important

indicators of data delivery are on the one hand the income of PSI holders (under the

condition that data is not made available for free) and on the other hand the volume of data

delivered . In order to raise the comparability of this monitoring, indicators should be defined

at product level . This would also help to develop a set of standardized products in Europe .

Furthermore, the indicators must reflect the common business or delivery models of each

sector . Therefore, specific delivery conditions such as server access, free access or reseller

partnerships between holders and re-users should be taken into account .

A great hope for an improved access to PSI lies in central bodies in charge of promoting

PSI re-use at the national level . In most European public administrations, granting private

organizations with access to public information for commercial purpose represents a major

cultural change . Such historical change requires a particular effort from Member States,

and an adaptation of their organization through the empowerment of a dedicated public

body for the promotion of PSI re-use .

The study revealed that in all three sectors the markets are growing and that the re-use

of PSI has already increased . PSI holders have introduced into their data policy numerous

changes which meet the spirit of the Directive . The demand for more PSI in the market is

still significant, as re-users of all three sectors declare unabated buying interest . In order

to meeting this demand and thereby to support the information economy in Europe, PSI

holders should focus on crucial aspects such as licensing and pricing, and provide greater

support for the re-use of PSI .

1 Introduction

As of 2000, the transformation of traditional industry into one that is information and

knowledge-based was recognized by the European Union as a guarantee of long-term

growth, high employment rates and stable quality of life in Europe; this was achieved by

the i2010 Strategy originated by the European Member States in Lisbon .

Considering the emergence and dynamism of information-based product and service

development, the key producers of primary information – i .e . public services and related

organizations in both the public and private sectors of Europe – are of immense importance .

However, due to some issues regarding access to information held by public bodies and its

re-use, the full potential of employment, innovation and value creation cannot be realized .

The European Community has actively improved conditions for the re-use of public

information . In Europe, basic principles for re-use of public sector information were

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1/2

established in Directive 2003/98/EC of November 2003; by the 8 May 2008 all 27

Member States notified complete transposition of the PSI Directive .

The exploitation of public sector information was evaluated in an empirical study carried

out in 2005 in the Member States, at which time the implementation itself had not yet

been fully realized . This study is known as the MEPSIR report (Measuring European Public

Sector Information Resources) .

In 2007, the EC commissioned this study to assess the re-use of PSI in three specific

sectors: geographical information, meteorological information, and legal and

administrative information .

The specific objectives of the study are fourfold:

� general overview and analysis of the geographical (cartographic mapping and

cadastral), meteorological, and legal and administrative PSI fields

� measurement of the re-use of PSI in each specific field

� identification of key indicators for analysing the re-use of PSI

� analysis of the implementation of the Directive’s framework conditions by the supply

side, and identification of successful examples and practices in each field .

This final report includes also case studies of relevant practices in the EU .

The opinions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect

the views of the European Commission .

2 The survey

2.1 The focus of the Directive

The PSI Directive is built around two key pillars of the internal market: transparency and

fair competition . It sets out the basic rules for the re-use of PSI throughout the European

Union, whose essential aspects are:

� Procedure to deal with requests for re-use:

� Public sector bodies shall process requests for re-use and shall make the document

available, preferably through electronic means .

� If licences are needed, the public sector body should finalize the licence offer to the

applicant within 20 working days after its receipt .

� If a request is decided negatively, the public sector body shall communicate the

grounds for refusal . Any negative decision shall contain a reference to the means of

redress in case the applicant wishes to appeal the decision .

� Conditions for re-use

� Formats: Documents for re-use shall be made available in all formats and languages

in which the information exists, wherever possible by electronic means .

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� Charging: According to the Directive, charges shall not exceed the cost of collection,

production, reproduction, and dissemination together with a reasonable return on

investment .

� Transparency: Any conditions applicable to re-use, charges and other conditions shall

be pre-established and published .

� Licences: Licensing conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for re-use

and shall not be used to restrict competition . Furthermore, Member States shall

ensure that standard online licences for the re-use of public sector documents are

available and can be processed electronically .

� Practical arrangements: Member States shall ensure that practical tools are in place

which makes it easier to find the material available for re-use . Such a tool could be

an assets list, preferably online .

� Non-discrimination and fair trading

� Non-discrimination: The Directive obliges the Member States to avoid discrimination .

If documents are re-used by a public sector body as input for its commercial

activities which fall outside the scope of its public tasks, then the same charges and

other conditions shall apply to the supply of the documents for those activities as

apply to other users .

� Prohibition of exclusive arrangements: the Directive prohibits exclusive

arrangements . Existing exclusive arrangements should be terminated at the end of

2008 with an exception for exclusive rights necessary for the provision of a service in

the public interest .

In its public communication, the Directive encourages Member States to go beyond these

minimum rules and to adopt open data policies, allowing widespread use of documents

held by public sector bodies . Concerning charges, public sector bodies are encouraged

to set lower charges or to make no charge at all; it is recommended in any case that

documents be made available at charges that do not exceed the marginal costs of their

reproduction and dissemination .

It is the aim of this study to assess the re-use of PSI in different sectors, in order to

highlight developments which meet the spirit of the Directive and to obtain information

about barriers which continue to limit re-use . The case studies, in particular, address the

named aspects of the Directive and provide examples of its concrete implementation .

2.2 The three sectors

PSI contains a large amount of different data, ranging from geographical information

to legal to statistical . As the basic conditions within the varying segments may differ

significantly, this study focuses on three sectors in particular . For more detailed

information, three data groups were chosen for each sector (see figure 1) .

For the evaluation of the re-use of Geographical information (GI), it is necessary to

determine the most important categories of GI and thus to ensure the study remains

focused on them . So, in the context of this study, GI is defined as: topographic data in all

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2

scales, cadastral information

(including address coordinates),

and aerial photography .

Previous studies1 of the

German market indicate

that these are the categories

with the highest re-use rates .

Besides, they are relatively

easy to confine, which will

help PSI holders and re-users

to answer the questionnaire .

The Meteorological

Information (MI) can be split

into a variety of different data sets; there are, among others, observations of temperature,

wind speed, humidity, etc . measured at ground stations or by weather balloons, satellite

images from geostationary or polar-orbiting satellites providing images of the Earth in the

visible or infrared spectra and several kinds of weather prediction sets . The study focuses

on three categories: synoptic observations, radar weather images, and weather predictions .

Usually, all of them are provided only by the public sector . Satellite images are not part of

the main focus of the survey since they are provided only by the European organization

EUMETSAT (Meteosat, Metop-A), from the US organization NOAA (NOAA satellites, EOS

satellites, GOES) and certain Asian organizations, but not from National Weather Services

(NMS) directly .

The study will consider three major categories of Legal and Administrative Information

(LAI), namely legislation, judicial information and administrative information . For this study,

legislation includes primary legislation enacted by national and/or regional parliaments

as well as secondary legislation also enacted by national and/or regional parliaments, but

also by other authorized public bodies such as Ministries . Judicial information refers to

court decisions which can be either decisions made by national and/or regional courts and

their representative bodies, or decisions made by tribunals and other authorized bodies,

e .g . Ombudsmen and Commissioners . The third category, administrative information,

refers to information that relates to the function of government and public administration,

and includes regulations, official notices (such as calls for tender), codes of conduct and

other background information on decision-making processes . This kind of administrative

information is usually formally published in, for example, official journals for those

jurisdictions that maintain them .

2.3 The indicators

One aim of the study was to develop a set of indicators in order to assess the re-use of PSI .

PSI holders and re-users were asked about these indicators in an online questionnaire and

1 German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology: “Prospects for Business Models of German Companies in the European and Global Geo-Information Market”, June 2008 .

Figure 1 – Overview of the types of data addressed in the survey

1 Geographical information» Topographic information» Cadastral information, including address data» Aerial photography

2 Meteorological information» Synoptic observations» Radar images» Weather predictions

3 Legal and administrative information» Primary and secondary legislation» Legislation, regulations, official notices» Decisions of national and/or regional courts

12




by telephone interviews . Although the indicators of the three sectors differ in their detail,

the questionnaires were structured similarly .

These are the indicators considered in the questionnaire for PSI holders:

PSI delivery Web portals Customers Data policy Standard product

•Income•Numberof

requests•Download

volume•Changessince

2002

•Existenceandfunctionalities

•Trafficontheportals (hits, page impressions)

•Customergroups

•Changesindata policy

•Legalbasis•Directionand

intensity of changes

•Price•Attributes

The PSI re-users were asked about the following indicators:

Procurement of PSI

Basis data Data policy Substitution Web portals Customers

•Typeofprocured data group

•Datavolume

•Incomere-lated to PSI

•Numberofemployees

•Knowledgeabout PSI Directive

•Assessmentof different aspects of the holder’s policies

•Sharesofsubstituted information

•Datapro-cure ment by web portals

•Assessmentof different aspects

•Customergroups

2.4 The survey

For each sector, different questionnaires were provided for PSI holders and for PSI re-users .

The links to the questionnaires were delivered to the PSI holders and re-users via e-mail .

As an e-mail attachment two PDF versions of the questionnaire manuals, in English and

German respectively, were distributed . The exchange rates for the conversion to the Euro

and the recommendation letter of the European Commission supporting the study were

also attached to the e-mails .

The questioning in all three sectors was supported by various associations and networks,

who forwarded the invitation e-mail to their members . The links to the questionnaires,

documents and information about the study were also available on the website of ePSIplus

and MICUS Management Consulting .

Despite the fact that re-users have been generally reluctant to participate in the

survey, a significant sample could be finally obtained . The authors of the study would

like to acknowledge the support received by several associations of re-users, such as

EuroGeographics and PRIMET, in approaching their members . Those who responded to

the enquiry about their reasons for non-completing the questionnaire gave the following

comments:

� information is considered to be confidential

� information is too difficult to provide

13

2/3

� questions were not understood due to different PSI re-use conditions in the varying

countries

� questions were not understood due to language problems

� questionnaire was too long, re-users were not willing to spend their time in the

completion of the questionnaire

� re-users were not aware that the questionnaire was part of an “official” survey of the

European Commission .

Additionally, telephone interviews were carried out with PSI holders and PSI re-users .

These interviews were based on standardised questionnaires which focused only on the

most important issues and did not, therefore, cover the complete online questionnaire .

3 Re-use of Geographical Information (GI)

3.1 GI – PSI holders

3.1.1 Responses to the survey

The producers and holders of geographical public information can be categorized into the

following groups:

� Firstly, there are the National Mapping

organizations, which produce topographic

maps, geodesic surveys and aerial

photography . It is usually the responsible

agencies which carry out the medium and

large scale mapping . In some countries,

they are also responsible for hydrographic

mapping, thematic mapping, and satellite

images .

� Additionally, there is Cadastral Mapping,

which includes mapping the country

and updating the legal land register

maps . The responsible public units carry

out the small scale mapping, often in

co-operation with private geographers

and land surveyors .

The national mapping and cadastral agencies (NMCA) were contacted via their European

association, EuroGeographics .

In total 27 PSI holders from 24 countries submitted answers to the questionnaire . Two

answers were received from these countries:

� Belgium: General Administration of Patrimonial Documentation and National

Geographic Institute

Figure 2 – Countries from which holders of public GI answered the questionnaire

Not responded

Responded

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

IS

14




� Germany: Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy and on behalf of the

Federal States a single answer was given by the Working Committee of the Surveying

Authorities of the States of the Federal Republic of Germany

� Spain: General Directorate of Cadastre and National Geographic Institute .

3.1.2 Organizational structure

The first question of the online

questionnaire deals with

the structural organization

of the PSI holder in each

country . This is relevant, as

some forms of organization

give the PSI holder more

autonomy in terms of pricing

and licensing models . Out of

the 27 national mapping and

cadastral agencies (NMCA)

that responded, 63% are part

of the public administration,

33% are public bodies with

substantial financial autonomy and 4% are government-owned companies . None of the

NMCA is organized as a public-private partnership .

The map below shows the distribution of the different forms of NMCAs throughout Europe .

Important in this context is the range of activities of the different PSI holders . In

a EuroGeographics survey from 2006, the NMCA were asked about their fields of

Figure 3 – Organizational structures of the respondents

Figure 4 – Organizational structures of the NMCAs

Public body with substantial financial autonomy

Public administration

Government-owned company

No response or not surveyed

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

Figure 5 – Respondents’ activities

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

Topographic mapping, cadastre and land registry

Different organizations for topographic mapping/ cadastre

Topographic mapping and cadastre

Topographic mapping, cadastre land registry and hydrology


Source: Eurogeographics, 2006


Government- owned company

Public body with substantial financial authonomy

Total number of answers: 27 (2 answers each from Belgium, Germany and Spain)


Government- owned company

Public body with substantial financial authonomy

Total number of answers: 27 (2 answers each from Belgium, Germany and Spain)

63%

4%

33%

15

3

responsibility .2 While in some countries different bodies are responsible for topographic

information and cadastre, in others there is a single central body dealing with these two

remits . Besides, there are NMCAs, which also cover land registers . Just two organizations

responded that they cover the complete range of activities, including topographic

mapping, cadastre, land registry and hydrography (see Figure 5) .

3.1.3 PSI delivery

In order to assess the re-use of public geographical information it is important to collect

information on the volume of data delivery by PSI holders . In this context the PSI holders

have been asked about three indicators for each of the three data groups within geodata:

� Income in Euro

� Number of re-use requests

� Download volume in MB .

In addition, information about the changes since 2002 for each indicator was requested .

This time period was selected because the period of five years was considered long

enough to indicate the impact of the PSI Directive .

In 2007, the total income of the PSI holders for all three data groups of GI, was about

€356 million . This figure only represents the revenue from the sale of geographical

datasets generated by the 27 PSI holders that responded to the questionnaire . The

revenue generated by value-added services is not included . Furthermore, revenues from

public bodies at the regional or local level or private companies are also not included .

2 EuroGeographics: Survey of NMCA’s Pricing and Licensing models, August 2006, p . 14 .

Figure 6 – Aggregation of the annual income for 2007 of reporting organizations

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

3.1 – 25 Mio. Euro

< 1 Mio. Euro

1.1 – 3 Mio. Euro

25.1 – 100 Mio. Euro

> 100 Mio. Euro


Figure 7 – Income from public GI sales per inhabitant

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

€ 1.01 - € 2.00

< € 1

> € 2.01


Average: €1.04 / inhabitant

16




Based on the income figures, it is possible to calculate the “indicator income per

inhabitant” . The average income from sales of public GI data per inhabitant is €1 .04 .3

When this analysis is carried out in more detail for each country, there are differences

between the Member States; the map below shows the distribution of different categories

for the indicator income:

The indicators “income” or “income per inhabitant” should not be taken as an equivalent

of the volume of PSI delivery; they are highly dependent on the pricing model of the

relevant PSI holder . For example, the Spanish cadastral authority has introduced the

free-of-charge policy for its cadastral information; hence, both income and income per

inhabitant are very low .

Depending on the structure

of the country under

consideration and the NMCA’s

delivery model, the income

generated by the NMCA

may be not representative of

the revenues generated by

the re-use of geographical

information (see Figure 8) .

Spain and Germany are typical

cases of federal organizations

where a large part of the data

is owned at the regional level .

More generally, in almost all European countries essential data is owned by municipalities,

in particular in urban areas . The NMCAs in Denmark and Sweden are typical examples of

an externalized sales system based on resellers .

From 24 responses 17 NMCAs

gave figures about changes in

income . 46% of the NMCAs

responded that their total

income had increased since

2002; 4% indicated an equal

level of income and 12%

said that their income had

decreased .

Except for three NMCAs, all

respondents recorded an

increase in income in all three

data groups since 2002 . Two

of the three PSI holders which recorded a decrease in income have reduced their prices

3 The number of inhabitants is based on 2007 Eurostat statistics .

Figure 8 – Monitoring income generated by PSI

Figure 9 – Change in income since 2002 (topographic information)

Increased

Decreased

No change

n/a

Total number of answers: 24

46%

12%

4%

38%

17

3

significantly or have introduced free access to their data since 2002 . The average of

income for topographic information increased by 2/3, for cadastral information it doubled,

and for aerial photography it increased by the factor 3 .8 .

Furthermore, all respondents who gave information about changes in re-use requests and

in download volume experienced an increase in these indicators . Since 2002 the re-use

requests increased by 2 .5 on average and the download volume grew simultaneously by

approximately 3 .5 . In some cases the data volume of single products has changed

significantly due to new formats or other technical reasons .

3.1.4 Web portals

In the third part of the online questionnaire, the PSI holders were asked about their web

portals . For topographic information, 23 web portals were named . Cadastral information

is offered in 15 web portals and 16 NMCAs show aerial photography on their web portal .

The number of portals with a

viewing function is fairly low .

For topographic information,

16 portals show data, for

cadastral information there

are only eleven, and aerial

photography is shown on

twelve portals .

In order to obtain more

information about the

different web portals of

NMCAs, 21 of the named

portals have been analysed .

The majority of them (43%) are completely or (19%) partially translated into English .

As it is crucial for re-users to obtain information about the definition and description of

products, the web sites were screened as to whether they provide such documents . Nearly

all of them (90%) offer this information .

Another important aspect for the re-use of PSI is the transparency of pricing . The majority

of web sites (67%) give information about prices; however, 28% do not offer clear

information about pricing .

The PSI Directive requests clear licensing conditions . 40% of the analysed web sites

provided explicit information about licensing conditions, and another 10% at least partial

information . However, nearly one third of the analysed web sites (30%) do not meet

this standard .

Figure 10 – Countries having a web portal with viewing function

23

15 16 16

11

12

0

5

10

15

20

25

Topographic information Cadastral information Aerial photographies

Number of portals

With viewing function

18




3.1.5 Customers

The PSI holders were asked to identify their most important customer groups .

15 respondents answered this question . In total 16 re-user groups were named . For

analytical purposes the re-user groups have been divided as follows:

� public administration

� “traditional re-users of topographic information”: i .e . utilities, water, tele-

communications, transport

� “traditional re-users of cadastral information”: banking and real estate

� “new user groups”: geomarketing, software, portals, publishers, retailers .

The figure below indicates what proportions of the total download volume are taken

up by the various user groups . The results are based on 24 answers . It can be noticed

that public administration is, with 42%, the most important customer for public

geographical information . It is followed by the traditional re-user groups (utilities, water,

telecommunications and transport for topographic information; banking and real estate for

cadastral information) . However, with 12% of the download volume, the new user groups

have a significant share in the PSI delivery .

It is assumed that these user groups are the carriers of new business models, for example:

� Free services over the internet financed by revenues from advertisement (mapping and

imagery, routing, location finding)

� Consumer embedded electronics (navigation systems) and map-based mobile

applications for handsets

� Sector-specific professional services for small and medium companies (geomarketing in

the automotive sector, crop management in the agricultural sector, fleet management

for home care services, security management in the winter sports sector, etc .)

Figure 11 – Clear indication of prices

28%

67%

5%

No Yes n/a

Total number of portals: 21

Figure 12 – Clear indication of licensing conditions

30%

10% 40%

20%

No Partially Yes n/a

Total number of portals: 21

19

3

The respondents had

the opportunity in the

questionnaire to name, in a

comment box, any further

user groups and their share .

The answers were agriculture,

forestry, education, science

and research, architects,

engineers, surveyors,

construction, other countries,

and non-profit organizations .

Their share in the download

volume, in combination with

the share of private users, is

13% (others) .

3.1.6 Data policy

The PSI holders were asked whether there had been a change in their data policy since

2002 . Out of 22 answers, 82% answered in the affirmative .

The map below indicates in which countries NMCAs reported changes .

Those respondents who confirmed that there had been a change in their data policy since

2002 were asked whether these changes were brought about by changes in legislation .

The majority of 54% answered yes . This suggests that the PSI Directive has had a positive

impact on the NMCAs’ data policies .

Figure 13 – User groups and their shares of download volume (average)

Figure 14 – Changes in data policy

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE


Change in data policy

No change

Figure 15 – Were changes in data policy brought about by changes in legislation?

18%

15%

12% 42%

13% Utilities, Water, Telecommunications, Transport Banking, Real estate Geomarketing, software, portals, publishers, retailers

Public administration Others


54%

13%

33%

Yes No n/a


20




The NMCAs were then asked in which direction their data policy had changed . The

respondents were requested to evaluate the intensity of changes in different aspects

of their data policy . This question was answered on a roll bar giving the opportunity of

assessing the intensity of a change on a scale from 0 to 3 . It should be noted, however,

that answers to this kind of question are highly subjective and one cannot be compared

to another . However, based on the answers, the following average assessments can be

derived for each aspect . As they are consistent with the observations of the re-users about

changes in data policies, it can

be assumed that the results

to this question correctly

indicate the tendency of policy

changes .

According to the answers,

the most significant changes

refer to the number of

delivery formats, the speed

of delivery, and the number

of products . These changes

can be characterized as

technically driven changes

which are closely linked to

the digitalisation of data and

the delivery of digital information on the internet . Furthermore, PSI holders have also

attempted to improve pricing and licensing conditions .

3.1.7 Price of a standard product

For the geographical sector, an ortho-rectified aerial

photography of 10 km2 was chosen as a standard

product . Aerial photographs are common products

and, compared to maps, their pricing is relatively simple .

However, aerial photographs can differ from each other

in a number of parameters such as resolution, colour,

date of production etc ., all of which may influence the

price . Therefore the respondents have been asked to

specify their product .

The majority of respondents (88%) answered this question .

The prices varied between €0 and €262, and the average

price turned out to be €62 . The price is country specific

and dependent on the pricing policy of the NMCA of each

Member State .

Figure 16 – How has the data policy changed?

Figure 17 – Price of an orthophoto of 10 km2

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

€ 51 - € 100

< € 50

> € 100

No response or

not surveyed

Average: € 62

1,00

1,18

1,94

2,00

2,12

0 1 2 3

Ease of licensing

Reduction of prices

Number of products

Speed of delivery

Number of delivery formats or delivery means

Intensity of changes

21

3

3.1.8 Suggestions and remarks

Finally, the NMCAs were asked for suggestions, remarks or examples of good practice

in terms of the re-use of PSI . In total 25 remarks were made . They can be divided into

five groups .

Eight suggestions deal with

the necessity of achieving

complete or partial cost

recovery for the production

of high-quality data . These

respondents emphasized the

need for a stable income

through the sale of data

in order to guarantee the

continuation of the operation

and to maintain product

quality . Most of the NMCAs

who mentioned this aspect,

have a particularly high

income through sales of PSI, pursue an active market strategy and / or act with substantial

financial autonomy . However, five comments referred to the need to reduce prices in order

to maximize the re-use of PSI .

Three remarks expressed a need for the amendment of legislation and financing policies .

This can be interpreted in the direction that the respondents will support a reduction of

prices as long as losses in income are balanced by other sources of finance .

Another issue, which was mentioned eight times, is the improvement of cross-border

operability and co-operation between the Member States . This aspect is closely related

to the objectives of the INSPIRE Directive and indicates that PSI holders attach great

importance to the development of technical standards .

One respondent mentioned problems with privacy protection . This is of particular interest

for cadastral information which contains ownership details relating to individuals .

3.2 GI – PSI re-users


Re-users of GI can be distributors, data brokers or content providers who edit and refine

basic public data according to the needs and requirements of their customers . Private

companies in the GI market frequently offer specialized software solutions and services

based on geoinformation .

Figure 18 – Suggestions from the NMCAs

0 2 4 6 8 10

Number of occurences

Achieve complete or partial cost recovery for the production of high-quality data

Reduce prices to increase re-use

Improve cross-border operability and cooperation between member states, establish technical standards (INSPIRE)

Improvement needed in national legislation and

financing policies

Issue: protection of private data (privacy)

22




The online questionnaire was

answered by 19 re-users . A

major provider of navigation

data and software submitted

the online questionnaire

with regard to the European

market . In the telephone

survey, 39 people were

interviewed, most of them

from Germany, Spain, Italy,

and Sweden . In all for the

geographical sector, 58

answers were received from

re-users of 14 countries .

3.2.2 Knowledge of PSI legislation

In the telephone survey, the re-users were asked whether they knew of the PSI Directive

and/or the implementing national legislation; 79% of the respondents answered in the

negative . This indicates that a large majority of the re-users are not aware that legislation

at EU and national level supports commercial re-use and that there are specific procedures

for formal complaints to help them resolve issues in connection with re-use .

It is assumed that this result is related to the recent and relatively slow implementation of

the Directive into national legislation . The lack of awareness for the PSI Directive both in

the public and the private sector may be a major barrier against effective implementation

of the Directive . It is strongly recommended that for the next two or three years the

awareness and promotion of the Directive should be a high priority .

3.2.3 Procurement

In order to assess the re-use

of public sector information

the re-users were asked

which data groups of public

geographical information

they re-used . It was possible

for them to give more than

one answer . The result

shows that topographic

information is re-used by

84% of the re-users, cadastral

information by 74% and

aerial photographs by 63% . It

Figure 19 – Participation of re-users in the survey

Figure 20 – What kind of geographical information do you obtain from the public sector?

0 2 4 6 8

10 12 14

German

y

UK

Spain

Italy

Sweden

Austria

Hunga

ry

Croatia

Neth

erlan

ds

Slovak

ia

France

Denmark

Greece

Roman

ia EU

Online survey Telephone survey


84% 74%

63%

42%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Topographic informations

Cadastral information

Aerial photography

Others


23

3

should be noted that the data group of cadastral information also includes address

coordinates .

The re-users had the opportunity of listing, in comment boxes, more kinds of public

sector information obtained

from the PSI holders . Here,

environmental information,

address information, tax

information, geological and

hydrological information were

named . This highlights the

fact that in most business

models geographical

information has to be mashed

with thematic data in order to

create added value .

When asked for their sources

of public topographic

information, 63% of the respondents stated that they obtained data from national sources,

32% from regional sources and 5% from local authorities .

3.2.4 Income

The income from geographical information varies significantly . The figures given ranged

from €500 to €5m .

The fact that 26% of the

respondents that filled out

the online questionnaire did

not answer this question can

be explained by a variety of

reasons:

� The reluctance of the

private sector to provide

income-related figures to

third parties .

� The fact that many business

models, particularly those

of software providers or

consultants, do not include the re-sale of public sector information . Especially in the

case of companies commissioned by public authorities, service providers and software

developers implement geographical information systems based on public geographical

information, but they do not own data (the data is owned by their commissioners) .

Figure 21 – Sources of topographic information

Figure 22 – What was your company’s income from the re-use of geographical information in 2007?

63%

32%

5%

16%

26%

16%

16%

26% > 1,000,000 €

> 100,000 €

< 100,000 €

Not a commercial organisation

n/a



National sources

Regional sources

Local sources

24




� The impossibility to establish a direct link between the re-use of public sector

information and economic results (see Figure 23) .

The sample used in the

survey is sufficient to support

conclusions on the trends of

the market for geographical

information; however,

definitive/measurable

conclusions cannot be

drawn . In particular, the total

market volume (cumulated

income) cannot be estimated

on the basis of the survey .

See section 6 of the report

(Monitoring) for more

explanations on the way such

results can be obtained .

Two thirds (66%) of the respondents indicated that there was an increase in their income .

Only 3% experienced decreasing income during that period . For 21% of the respondents,

their income remained

unchanged . 10% decided not

to answer this question .

These figures show clearly that

the GI market is growing for

the majority of the re-users .

This has been also found in

the very recent market study

of the German GI market from

June 2007 .4 In this study it was

estimated that the German

GI market has grown by 50%

since 2000 .

3.2.5 Data volume

In order to check the availability of different indicators, the re-users were asked to indicate

changes in the volume of procured geographical information since 2002 . The structure

of the answers is similar to that of the question about income; nearly two thirds stated

an increase in volume, one third did not answer this question, and 5% had a decrease

in volume .

4 German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology: “Prospects for Business Models of German Companies in the European and Global Geo-Information Market”, June 2008 .

Figure 23 – No direct link can be established by the companies between the re-use of public sector information and economic results

Figure 24 – Change in income from geographical information since 2002

21%

66%

3% 10%

No change Increased Decreased n/a


25

3

3.2.6 Data policy

In order to find connections

between the changes in the

data policy of PSI holders

and effects on the part of

the re-users, they were asked

whether they recognized

any changes and how they

assessed different aspects of

the data policies .

The figures below show to

what extent the re-users

recognized changes in the data policy of “their” PSI holders and in which direction . First of

all it has to be stated that for each aspect at least 30% of the respondents recognized that

the changes were positive .

Furthermore, the number of respondents who had reported unfavourable developments,

such as an increase in prices or worsening of format conditions, was very low (less than

8% in all cases) .

Next, the re-users were asked to assess the different aspects of the current data policies

of PSI holders on a scale from 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good) .5 This assessment backs

up the former findings about current data policies of PSI holders . The aspects of coverage,

delivery formats, products and speed of delivery were assessed by the re-users as better

than prices, licensing and transparency .

General trends became clear

when the shares of positive

replies were analysed . 28%

of the re-users (see Figure

28) stated positive changes

in licensing, 34% of them

(see Figure 27) stated an

improvement in pricing

policies, 41% of the re-users

recognized positive changes in

the speed of delivery and the

number of formats .

This result is consistent

with the assessment of PSI holders of the intensity of changes in the different aspects .

According to the PSI holders, the changes that had taken place shortly before the survey

5 The graph should be read as 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good) where the range between 1–2 should be considered poor, 3–4 reasonable and 5–6 as good .

Figure 26 – How would you assess the current data policy of PSI holders on a scale from 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good)?

Figure 25 – Change in the volume of geographical information used since 2002

0%

63%

5%

32% No change Increased Decreased n/a


0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Coverage

Delivery formats

Products

Speed of delivery

Prices

Transparency

Licensing

26




was done focused on the more technical issues such as delivery speed and number of

formats .

3.2.7 Web portals

Web portals are considered to be an important PSI distribution platform . In order to verify

this assumption, the re-users were asked about the usage of web portals .

In total, 19 respondents answered this question . 26% of them obtained their data on a

daily basis . This high frequency of data procurement on the web portal indicates the need

for topical data and for web services . The share of respondents who procure data from

web portals (weekly, monthly and yearly) do so to the same extent, namely 10–11% .

Figure 27 – Changes recognized in pricing policies Figure 28 – Changes recognized in licensing policies

Figure 29 – Changes recognized in speed of delivery Figure 30 – Changes recognized in formats offered

51%

5%

34%

5% 5%

No change Increase Decrease Not applicable Not answered


46%

28%

8%

13%

5%

No change Easier Worse Not applicable Not answered


31%

41%

0%

23%

5%

No change Improve Worse Not applicable Not answered


36%

41%

3%

15%

5%

No change Improve Worse Not applicable Not answered


27

3

Furthermore, re-users were asked for the URL of the web

portals from which they obtain PSI . They were permitted

to name more than one portal . It was intended to check

the acceptance and/or awareness of the web portals of the

NMCAs which have been listed in the GI questionnaire of

the holders .

While respondents from eight countries answered this

question, only four web portals of NMCAs were named .

These were the portals belonging to Landmateriet (Sweden),

Ordnance Survey (UK), Idee (Spain) and Bundesanstalt

für Eichwesen und Vermessung (Austria) . Furthermore,

five public authority portals with a thematic background

were named dealing with, for example, geology, statistics,

forestry and environment . Again, this result emphasizes

the importance of opportunities of data mashing . Also,

ten regional authority web portals have been provided;

this underlines the need for public geodata infrastructures

which allow a far-reaching distribution of public geoinformation . Two of the named

portals are run by private providers, but for two more portals the portal provider remained

unclear .

Local authorities provide particularly detailed geographical information allowing the

creation of applications for experts whose business activities are focused at local level .

Several portals belonging to regional authorities were quoted in the survey (in Germany,

Spain, UK and Austria) .

3.2.8 Customers

The definitions of holders, re-users and end users are

in some cases difficult to distinguish . The re-users were

therefore asked about their customer groups according to

their share of income . The intention was to gain a deeper

understanding of information streams and business

models .

The results show that the largest customer group of

re-users comes from public administration . At this point

it is helpful to go back to the results of the income

generated by PSI re-use . A large number of respondents

who had not been able to name these figures explained in

the telephone interviews that many orders do not include

the purchase and sale of data as such, but instead, for

example, the purchase and sale of services and software .

This is particularly so if the customer is from public

administration .

Figure 31 – Frequency of use of the portals

Figure 32 – Customer groups by income (average)

26%

10%

11% 11%

42%

Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Not answered


18%

14%

24% 12%

32%

Utilities, water, waste disposal, transport, telecommunications Banking and real estate Geomarketing, software providers, portals, publishers Retail, private persons Public administration


28




3.2.9 Substitution

The following questions were asked in order to reveal whether re-users had already

substituted public data and, if so, why they decided to do so .

When asked about their sources of geographical information, a majority of 62% of the

re-users stated that they worked with a mix of public and private data . At least, nearly one

fifth of the respondents (22%) work solely with public data .

In order to gain an idea of the effects of substitution, a question was put to the re-users

about changes in the volume of data obtained from public sector since 2002 . While one

fourth of the respondents (25%) had reduced the volume of data obtained from public

sources, 13% had increased their procurement of data from the public sector .

On being asked whether they would like to obtain more

public geographical information, the majority of 79% of all

respondents answered in the affirmative . This shows that

there is still a high demand for public sector information in

the geographical sector .

The re-users were then asked their reasons for not

obtaining more geographical information from

public sources . Six optional answers were given in

the questionnaire, coloured blue in the figure below .

Additionally, the re-users were given the opportunity

to name other reasons for not using more PSI and to

specify them . In total ten answers referred to other

reasons, grouped under “unfair market”, “information not

Figure 33 – Source of geographical information: public vs. private

Figure 34 – How did the proportion of PSI in your geographical information procurement change since 2002?

Figure 35 – Would you like to obtain more geographical information from the public sector?

10%

16%

0% to 10% PSI 11% to 49% PSI 50% to 89% PSI

90% to 100% PSI Not answered


36%

13% 25%

26%

No change Increase Decrease n/a


79%

16%

5%

Yes No Not answered


22%

36%

16%

29

3

available”, and “lack of centralization” (coloured red in Figure 36) . It was permitted to list

more than one of the given answers .

This question was answered by

20 respondents, who ticked

50 answers in total .

The answers show clearly that

licensing and pricing are the

most significant barriers to the

re-use of public geographical

information by respondents .

The result also reveals an

aspect mentioned in several

telephone interviews; clear,

transparent, and reliable

licensing policies are considered to be slightly more important than a reduction in prices;

the uncertainty of licensing keeps many re-users from setting up a long-term business

model based on PSI .

Nevertheless, the total level of prices is also a very important issue, particularly for

distributors . As some interviewees in the telephone survey reported about margins below

5%, sale activities are very unattractive in this field .

The lack of quality of public data and its currency was mentioned in 44% of all answers .

28% of the answers referred to the speed of delivery . The number of kinds of formats was

named by only one respondent .

Very interesting is the fact, that “unfair market” was listed in 33% of all answers,

although it was not listed as an answer . Respondents explained that they criticize

discriminatory practices of PSI holders such as the exploitation of competitive advantages

of survey authorities caused by the lack of transparent pricing policies .

Four respondents complained about the fact that information which would be of interest

for them was not available for re-use . The lack of centralization was named by two

respondents and reflects the problem of data delivery in federal states .

3.3 Case Studies

There are several examples of new reuse oriented pricing and licensing policies which have

been implemented recently in the GI sector . Two of the most interesting cases are briefly

summarized below . Both represent a significant change in the pricing policy towards the

development of the European PSI market . The third case study presents an alternative

approach to that described previously .

Figure 36 – Reasons for not obtaining more geographical information from public sources

67%

61%

44%

33%

28%

22%

11%

6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Licensing

Prices

Quality and update of data

Unfair market

Speed of delivery

Information not available

Lack of centralization

Formats


30




3.3.1 Austria – A new pricing model

The recitals of the PSI Directive call on the Member States to encourage public sector

bodies to make PSI available at marginal costs . The new pricing model of the Austrian

National Mapping and Cadastral Agency (Bundesamt für Eich- und Vermessungswesen –

BEV) has been chosen as an example providing positive changes in the sector of

geographical information based on the introduction of marginal costs for public geodata

and furthermore being a good illustration of a transparent and coherent licensing model .

As part of the transposition of the PSI Directive to Austrian law, the Austrian Act for

Surveying6, amongst the others containing the regulation on the State cost-recovery from

the sale of data, was amended . In consequence, the BEV was enabled to change in 2006

its pricing and licensing model of cost-recovery to a new pricing and licensing model,

which resulted in a significant reduction of fees up to 97% for certain type of data .

In addition, transparent re-use modalities have been introduced . A consistent standard-

price model was developed differentiating internal re-use (for private individuals, for

enterprises or for a public organization within the technical or administrative tasks) and

external re-use for commercial reasons, establishing, for both groups, separate fees

depending on the content of the data-layer and the size of the area .

The effects of this change in data policy have been significant with increases (up to

7,000%) of the number of orders for digital orthophotos . The number of external

re-users has increased as well . The additional demand emerged from a sector of small

and medium-sized enterprises . New players from this sector can be assigned to “new

user groups” in the branches of geomarketing, health services, agriculture, etc . The

development of new business models based on geographical reference data is observable .

Although fees were drastically reduced for certain data sets, the total turnover for the BEV

from the products concerned is more or less stable . Hence, the BEV has raised the re-use

of its reference data, without it suffering any drop in its turnover .

3.3.2 Spain – Free access to GI

Spain is a decentralized state: each autonomous region has its own cartographic authority .

Several ministries also maintain cartographic databases in fields such as agriculture,

environment, geology and demography, or for military purposes . The National Geographic

High Council is the collegial assembly in charge of the coordination between these

cartographic information holders .

The National Geographic High Council recognized two important trends in the

development of the geographical information sector, which led to the creation of the

Spanish National Spatial Data infrastructure:

6 Vermessungsgesetz (VermG)

31

3

� The geographical information sector is growing rapidly, creating high-calibre value-

added jobs and economic activity in a future-oriented knowledge society . Public

information holders are major players in this swiftly evolving sector, and they must,

therefore, foster innovation and growth in the creation of map-based value-added

products and services .

� Through the rapid development of internet services, enquirers are now able very

easily to gain access to geographical information from private sources . It is essential,

therefore, for the public holders of cartographic information not to lag behind in this

technical evolution, and it is clear that there is a need to develop user-friendly internet

services based on public geographical information .

In March 2003, the Spanish Cadastre administration made accessible the complete

cadastral map of Spain on the internet . In 2004 the internet portal IDEE7 was launched

to offer a free access to essential geographical data through Web Map Services (WMS) .

Since its creation, the amount of information available through the portal has continuously

expanded, with an ever-increasing number of public data holders providing free access

to their datasets via the platform . It should be signalled that the number of visits in the

Virtual Cadastral Office has been increasing by more than 50% per annum since 2003

reaching 15 millions in 2007 . All geographical and cadastral information is available free of

charge for commercial re-use and without limitations of any kind .

An analysis of the impact of a free access to spatial data in Catalonia8 demonstrated that

such initiative is highly profitable to public institutions, by saving a lot of time, simplifying

processes and making optimal use of the available information . The impact on private

companies is also positive .

This case study illustrates the arguments underlying a drastic reduction of the barriers to

the re-use of PSI:

� Free access to public sector information boosts both the private economy and public

services, unleashes innovation and creates ideal conditions for a fast development of

the information society .

� The management of licenses, usage control and sophisticated pricing models are

supplementary administrative burdens both for public services and companies . Freedom

of access to the geographical databases benefits in the first place to public services,

most particularly to local administrations .

3.3.3 Germany – Public tasks regarding production of leisure maps

Private publishers of cartographic maps in Germany have signalled that the pricing from

State Survey Authorities for maps for leisure activities might not be in compliance with the

non-discriminatory clause of the Directive: “If documents are re-used by a public sector

7 Infrastructura de Datos Espaciales de España (www .idee .es)8 The Socio-Economic Impact of the Spatial Data Infrastructure of Catalonia (Pilar Garcia Almirall,

Montse Moix Bergadà, Pau Queraltó Ros, 2008)

32




body as input for its commercial activities which fall outside the scope of its public tasks,

the same charges and other conditions shall apply to the supply of the documents for

those activities as apply to other users .”

In February 2008, the Association of Cartographic Publishers requested precise

information from 15 State Survey Authorities on the distinction between their core public

task and the commercial activities they also undertake, including its compliance with the

PSI Directive and its national implementing legislation . The answers of the authorities

showed that the law that transposes the Directive in Germany9 and its non-discriminatory

clause are known to them, but is considered not applicable to the production of maps for

leisure activities .

The major problem seems to be that specific laws, such as the State Survey Laws,

explicitly define the production of cartographic material as a public task, the State Survey

Authorities consider that this applies too in the context of the production of maps for

leisure activities . The fact that private cartographic publishers are eager to enter this

market indicates that there might be ground for reviewing the need for general activity of

a public body in this area . PSI holders ought to review their spectrum of public tasks .

3.4 Conclusions for the Geographical Sector

The survey shows that the PSI Directive has had a noticeable impact on the sector of

geographical information (GI) .

The GI market is growing all over Europe . The income of GI re-users is increasing and the

market is enriched by the many new re-user groups which offer innovative applications

for geographical information . The data volume delivered by PSI holders is increasing . In

many countries, this development has, since 2002, led to a significant increase in income

of public GI providers .

PSI holders of GI are aware of the Directive and have introduced a large number of

changes triggered by the Directive . Regarding the changes of data policies of PSI holders,

the survey gives clear information: PSI holders have carried out improvements which

have had effects on the number of products, delivery formats and delivery speed . GI is

increasingly offered on Internet portals or via web services . It may be assumed that these

more technically driven changes were also promoted by the INSPIRE Directive and its

request for technical standards . Nonetheless, these changes are recognized and welcomed

by the wider community of re-users .

Changes in pricing and licensing have been pursued with less intensity by PSI holders, yet

at the same time re-users complain forcefully about these issues . It is the development of

relaxed licensing conditions in particular that seems to create difficulties for PSI holders .

9 Gesetz über die Weiterverwendung von Informationen öffentlicher Stellen – Informationsweiterverwendungsgesetz (IWG)

33

3/4

The new pricing model of the Austrian BEV proves that significant reductions of fees down

to marginal costs can be compensated by an increase in the number of customers and

PSI requests . Although fees were reduced significantly in 2006, the income of the NMCA

remains stable due to increasing numbers of requests . As the recitals of the PSI Directive

recommend the delivery of PSI for low or no charges, the Austrian BEV and the Spanish

Authorities are very good examples for the GI sector .

Although the range of geographical information offered by private sources is growing,

public geodata is nevertheless in highly demand by re-users . Most of the respondents

in the survey reported that the share of public geodata in the total geodata they had

obtained had remained the same or increased since 2002 . Furthermore, the great majority

of private re-users of GI would like to obtain more PSI than they currently achieve . In

order to meet this demand it is important to improve delivery conditions rapidly . Since the

ease of licensing is a crucial prerequisite for the promotion of re-use, this aspect should be

given specific focus in the future .

The substitution of certain kinds of public sector information through private sources may

encourage some PSI holders to review the scope of their public tasks . A good example is

that of the German case study describing the conflict that may arise between PSI holders

and re-users when certain activities of public holders are defined as “public task”, but

which are in the light of the re-users added value PSI to be produced by the private sector .

4 Re-use of Meteorological Information (MI)

4.1 MI – PSI holders


The collection and provision of meteorological raw data is usually the main task of the

National Meteorological Services (NMS) . Each NMS maintains a weather station network

across its country and – for countries with coastlines – their NMS also keeps an offshore

station network . Some weather stations are run by personal staff, and from others the

data is collected automatically and sent to a central facility . Most European NMSs are

members of various public European or world organizations, which provide raw data and

derived products for the private and commercial sectors:

� EUMETSAT: European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

� ECMWF: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

� ECOMET: Economic Interest Grouping of the National Meteorological Services

� WMO: World Meteorological Organization; not directly providing meteorological

information .

The questionnaire was sent to 28 European NMSs, and also to EUMETSAT, ECMWF and

ECOMET . Refer to the annex for a list of all organizations .

34




EUMETSAT and 25 NMSs submitted their responses to the

questions about the re-use of meteorological information .

Half of the respondents filled in the online questionnaire,

while the remainder submitted their responses after

follow-up e-mail and phone contact .

The responses from 25 NMSs form the basis for the

analysis of the answers in the following sub-sections .

Some questions were not answered by all 25 NMS; this

is highlighted in the text . The answers from EUMETSAT

are handled separately in the following sub-sections . The

access and the handling of licence requests for ECMWF

data is performed by the NMS of each country . Therefore,

since the questions do not apply to it, ECMWF did not

complete the questionnaire .


The structural organization of the PSI holders in each country is analyzed first . This is of

interest as some organizational structures allow PSI holders more autonomy in terms of

the pricing and licensing models .

Most NMSs (19) are public

authorities; only four stated

that they are a public body

with substantial financial

autonomy . One NMS is a

government-owned company,

and one a private company .

The NMSs that act with

substantial financial autonomy

are those of Belgium, the

United Kingdom, France and

Portugal . A private company

delivers the MI in Malta .

4.1.3 PSI delivery

PSI Holders data

In order to assess the re-use of public meteorological information it is important to collect

information about the volume of data delivery by PSI holders . In this context the PSI

holders were asked to respond to the following indicators:

Figure 37 – Overview of responses from European NMS

Not responded

Responded

* Associated member

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO*

CH

DE

IS*

Figure 38 – Organizational structures of the NMSs delivering MI

76%

4%

16%

4%

Public administration Government- owned company Public body with subst. financial autonomy Private company


35

4

� Change of Income (2002–2007)

� Change in the number of data requests (2002–2007)

In addition, a few PSI holders gave numbers about the total download volume and the

change in the download volumes between 2002 – 2007 . There is an increasing trend to

put more data available for re-use for free, and when this happens, the download volume

significantly increases (in some cases up to 700%) .

Unsurprisingly, 20 NMSs responded that their total turnover had increased since 2002 .

One NMS indicated an equal level of turnover and four NMSs stated that their turnover

had decreased .

According to the responses of some PSI holders, it is the weather forecasts that have

contributed the most to their increase in income . The contribution of weather radar

images has an impact only for a small number of NMSs . And since SYNOPS data has

became freely available very limited income was reported .

Based on the given figures

for the total income in the

three analysed data groups,

a sum of € 8 million can be

calculated for the year 2007 . It

must be noted that this total

sum is derived from answers

of 14 holders which have filled

in the online questionnaire;

among others the bigger NMS

of the EU, including France,

United Kingdom and Germany .

The sum only includes income

from selling MI to re-users; i .e .

re-users in the sense of private

service providers . The overall

income comparing to the year

2002 has increased in average

by 70% where the highest

number (86%) refers to the

weather forecast part .

The increase in the number

of data requests and data

volume indicates a similar

trend . 16 NMSs indicate an

increase in the number of data

requests, seven do not see any

significant change and for two

NMSs the data requests have

Figure 39 – Changes in the total income since 2002

Figure 40 – Changes in the total number of requests since 2002

80%

16%

4%

Increase

Decrease

No change


64% 8%

28%

Increase

Decrease

No change


36




decreased . The data requests compared to the year 2002 has increased – in average by

36% . The data related to weather forecast shows the highest increase (53%) .

The questions about the download volume and its change since 2002 were only answered

by a few holders (5 of 14 holders in the online survey) . In average, the download volume

has increased by 1/3 .

The NMSs have monitored an increase from just a few to several hundred per cent in the

number of data requests and the download volume .

EUMETSAT data

EUMETSAT’s revenue from licences has increased by a factor of 1 .2 between 2002

and 2007 .

The data requests and download volume for satellite images and products offered

by EUMETSAT to all of its customers (whether commercial sector or NMS’s) showed

impressive rates of increase over five years:

� Registered users for real-time image data: increase by factor of 4 .2

� Archive orders: increase by factor of 788

� Retrieval Volume: increase by factor of 170

The retrieval volume in 2007 was around 340T bytes of data and images . This is an

extremely rapid increase in data requests and retrievals . This is due to the introduction

of major new satellite missions (Meteosat Second generation in 2002–2003, and then

EUMETSAT’s Polar System/Metop-A in 2006 providing global coverage for meteorology

and climate/environment monitoring) . This is combined with significant increase in

coverage, data rate and the number of products of the real-time data dissemination

service . The archive retrieval service has been continuously improved over the period . All

this highlights the increasing re-use in meteorological information .

4.1.4 Web portals

All NMSs and both supranational organizations offer meteorological information on

dedicated web sites or web portals . Some NMSs offer extra services for registered users

(e .g . civil and private aviation, civil protection agencies, etc .) .

An analysis of the web portals of all 27 EU member states, plus two EEA countries (Iceland

and Norway) and the two supranational organizations, EUMETSAT and ECMWF, is given

in this sub-section . Refer to the annex for a list of URLs of all web portals .

The web portals and internet presentations of these 31 organizations have been analysed

with respect to the needs of re-users searching for meteorological information and the

conditions for re-use:

37

4

� Are the main pages also translated into English, including information about

meteorological information, copyrights, licences, etc?

� Is a comprehensive list of all basic data sets and products available?

� Are prices specified for data sets and products?

� Is the data policy explained in detail?

� Are copyrights of the data or images shown within the web portal specified or linked on

the first web page?

Most of the web portals provide information in English . 23 organizations show most of

their web pages in English . Five organizations present only selected pages in English –

mostly pages with general information about the organization or pages showing the

current weather conditions and forecasts for the country concerned . In three web

presentations, there is no information available either in English or in another European

language apart from its own .

Comprehensive lists of available datasets and products are specified by only twelve

organizations . More than half of the organizations specify their data and products only in

parts; i .e . the visitor can guess by looking at the weather maps, charts and images what kind

of data may be offered by the organization . Two organizations do not clearly indicate what

kind of data they offer; they provide this information only on request or after registration .

Organizations which are ECOMET members do, however, present a long list of products

including prices and licences on the product overview of ECOMET (www .ecomet .eu) .

A price list for the data sets and products offered is specified by only eight organizations

on their web portal or web presentation . Two organizations do at least show prices for

parts of their products, but the majority of the organizations do not give any price details;

they merely specify a contact person or department .

Again, all ECOMET members show a complete price list on the ECOMET web page .

Figure 41 – Web Portals of NMS:Number of English versions

Figure 42 – Web Portals of NMS: Are product definitions available?

74%

10%

16%

Yes No Partially Total number of portals: 31


39%

6%

55%

38




Licence conditions with respect to the access and re-use

of meteorological data and products are given by 13

organizations on their web pages . Ten organizations do not

show clearly any licence conditions for re-use, and eight

organizations present partial conditions for data access

and re-use – mostly linked to the use of images, maps and

charts presented on the web pages .

Notes about copyright or links to licence conditions are

available on the home page at the web portals of only six

organizations . Seven organizations provide at least a short

notice about copyright, but 18 organizations do not have a

link on their home page to copyright or licence conditions .

The best results of this analysis were achieved by the web

portals of EUMETSAT and the UK Met Office, followed by

the web pages of ECMWF and the NMSs of Austria, France,

Germany, Ireland and Norway .

4.1.5 Customers

The PSI holders were asked to name the most important user groups of meteorological

information . A list of 13 user groups was given in the questionnaire; one field was left

open for the respondents to specify ‘Others’ .

For most NMSs the given percentages per user group were rough estimates . A few NMSs

did not have any measures – no electronic measures, especially – for the distribution of

data to different user groups .

Figure 43 – Web Portals of NMS: Is a price list available?

Figure 44 – Web Portals of NMS: Are licence conditions available?

Figure 45 – Web Portals of NMS: Are licences or copyright notes/links available on the home page?




26%

68%

6%

42%

32%

26%

19%

58%

23%

39

4

The results derived from the answers are shown in the following diagram . The percentages

shown in the diagram are averages given for each user group based on 21 NMSs

which could provide rough estimates at least . Single percentages may significantly vary

between the NMSs; for example, the Malta and Luxembourg NMSs are within the airport

administration meteorological offices and thus for them the traffic sector is the most

important user (>60% each) .

The most significant user

group, based on the average

percentages, is ‘Public

Administration and Internal

Use’ . The NMSs deliver

meteorological data and

products to other national

public authorities, but some

NMSs (e .g . those of Finland,

France and Sweden) use a

significant amount of data

(>40%) internally, mostly

passed on to the commercial

branch of the relevant NMS .

The user groups marked with dark red bars in the diagram above represent the main

customers of private service providers . The share for this group is around 49% of the total

data volume that is delivered directly by 25 NMSs to public bodies (without intermediaries

as private service providers) – a percentage that emphasizes

the competition between private service providers and

public sector authorities in some business sectors (see also

Figure 52 in section 4 .2 .6) .

The following figure shows the same data reorganized into

six user groups . One third of the data volume is passed

directly to serve various needs of different branches of

the industrial and financial market, plus 13% to the (new)

media sector, and 8% to private service providers . The

share for research institutes could be high for some NMSs,

especially in Germany, with more than 50% .

In addition to the user groups given in the questionnaire,

there was only one extra group, mentioned by the Latvian

Meteorological Service: hotels (1%) . This was the only

notice about customers in the tourism sector .

The main customers for EUMETSAT are, in order of

importance: NMSs of EUMETSAT’s member states, NMSs

of non-member states (worldwide), many users from universities and research institutes,

significant number of private users (amateur meteorologists) and a few commercial users .

Figure 46 – User groups and their share of the amount of meteorological information distributed by 25 NMSs

Figure 47 – User groups and their shares of meteorological information

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Service Providers Internet Services

Publishing and Broadcasting Companies Traffic Sector (Airlines, Shipping, …)

Energy and Water Sector

Insurances Financial and Investment Sector

Building / Engineering Sector

Agriculture Sector

Food Industry and Retail Public administration, internal use

Research Institutes Private people

Others

8%

13%

36%

22%

18%

3%

Service Providers Broadcasting, Media, Internet Energy, Transport, Building, Financial, Agriculture Public administration, Internal use Research Institutes, Private People Others


40




4.1.6 Data policy

The PSI holders were asked whether there had been a change in their data policy since

2002 . Out of 25 answers, 15 NMSs answered in the affirmative .

Five NMSs confirmed that the change in their data policy was brought about by legislation;

i .e . based on the change of existing national laws and edicts or in new ones . One third

of the NMSs which had changed their data policy since 2002 stated that their reasons for

changing their policy included a change in legislation .

The reasons given for data policy changes brought about by legislation in the five countries

are as follows:

Country Given Reasons

Iceland New legislation for public data from 2006 which states that the main rule for the public data owned by the governmental institution and collected for public money shall be open for access and free of charge or shall be sold only for cost of delivery .

Netherlands Current KNMI Law 2002; complete privatization of all KNMI’s commercial activities, hybrid data policy for commercial re-use . Some data free, other chargeable for commercial re-use (principle of profitability)

Norway All MI data owned/produced by Norwegian Meteorological Institute are free of charge, only marginal costs are charged . The free of charge policy implemented during 2007 . From 2008 there will […] be no income from own data/products . Also few restrictions for re-use apply, i .e . only requirement is to give credit to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute if data used or displayed in original/recognizable form . The change is partly related to the PSI directive .

Slovenia Based on the PSI directive, the availability and access of the MI has been improved .

Spain All Spanish SYNOPS became free of charge . There is no extra charge for redistribution of data for the rest, such as radar, lightning etc . The change was implemented by Spanish law .

So it is clear that the national implementation of the PSI directive has led to or influenced

a data policy change in at least five European NMSs .

The NMSs were also asked in which direction their data policy had changed over the past

five years – whether the change in the data policy was based on legislation or on internal

decisions made by the organization itself . Then the 15 organizations which confirmed

a change in their data policy were requested to evaluate the change in their data policy

according to these five criteria:

� Level of prices

� Ease of licensing

� Speed of delivery

� Number of products

� Number of delivery formats or means of delivery .

They were also required to indicate in their answers whether these criteria for the users

or re-users of meteorological information improved or deteriorated after the data

policy change .

41

4

According to the answers,

the most significant changes

referred to the number

of products and speed of

delivery, followed by the level

of prices and data formats .

The positive trend in the

number of products, data

delivery and formats is also

confirmed by those NMSs

which have not changed

their data policy in the past

five years, as well as by

EUMETSAT .


A National Composite Weather Radar Image in digital format has been chosen as a

standard product of MI . Most of the NMSs have their own weather radar network and

provide single-site or national composite images or image loops . In the questionnaire some

additional characteristics of the offered product were requested: single-site or composite

radar image, resolution and update rate of the image .

Eighteen NMS gave prices and details about their national composite radar images . The

prices varied between €0 .31 and €10 .00 . The price is a country specific and dependent

on the pricing policy of NMS Member State . Several organizations referred to the

ECOMET price list . The prices per country and user can be found at http://www .ecomet .

eu/price%20list .htm#radar . For ECOMET members, the price list shows the product

specification and prices in detail for end users, broadcasters and various levels of service

providers .

Facts and figures from the answers given in the comment boxes and a comparison with

the ECOMET price list (as of 10 March 2008) for national composite radar images are

given below:

� Lithuania and Luxembourg do not have weather radar stations for creating national

composite radar images . Lithuania plans a system for the future; Luxembourg uses

Belgian weather radar images .

� The Swedish, Finnish and Latvian agencies offer different prices for the weather radar

image for different users . Some service providers pay significantly more than end users,

up to six times more in exceptional circumstances .10

� ECOMET price list: only Norway and Iceland offer National Composite Radar Images

for €0 (but with the obligation to quote the Agency as a source) . Austria and Spain

10 Refer to http://www .ecomet .eu/price%20list .htm#radar

Figure 48 – Index: How has the data policy changed in the meteorological sector?

10

6

14

11

9

3

9

1

4

6

2

0 5 10 15

Prices

Licenses

Number of Products

Deliver speed

Data formats

Got better

No change

Got worse

42




do not have different prices for end users, broadcasters and different levels of service

providers . This applies partially also for Germany and United Kingdom (additional fee

for internet redistribution) .

� Many NMS offer current radar images on their web pages for free .

4.2 MI – PSI re-users


The re-users of MI can be split into different groups:

� National weather services or other public sector bodies that use weather or climate

data from other national weather services or European organizations . For example, all

European NMSs use the satellite images and products provided by EUMETSAT .

� Private weather services that use the raw data or derived products to create value-

added products for their customers .

� End users, who use the information for their own purposes and potentially create

value-added products but not for resale . There are, among others, media agencies and

publishers, insurance companies, transport industry, traffic and energy sectors, health

industry, and private individuals .

The private weather services are re-users of particular interest . They are usually in

competition with the data services provided by the NMS and they benefit from the

implementation of the EU directive for re-use of PSI in the first place . Many of the

private weather services are members of a national or European association of private

meteorological services (PRIMET) . The association represents more than 35 European

companies, which were invited to take part in the survey . Since there are more and more

private companies offering

online weather services on

their own internet portal or as

part of online media portals,

some of these companies –

not members of PRIMET –

were also asked to complete

the questionnaire .

Fifty-eight private service

providers were invited to

take part in the survey and

complete the questionnaire .

Invitations were sent to

companies in 14 EU-27

countries and 3 non-EU-27

countries (i .e . Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro and Switzerland) . Since most of the private

service providers are located in Germany, most respondents are from there .

Figure 49 – Contacts and responses of private service providers

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Germany

Netherlands

United Kingdom

Italy Spain

Finland Czech Republic

France Slovakia Bulgaria

Sweden

Belgium Poland Denmark

non EU-27

Companies

Responses

43

4

Nineteen private service providers filled in the questionnaire and provided many

comments on the current situation of MI re-use . It is estimated that there are no more

than 60-70 companies, who are active in the European meteorological sector . Thus,

responses have been received from one third of all re-users . As particularly the large

companies have answered the survey, it can be presumed that the respondents cover

about 80% of the private meteorological market .

4.2.2 Procurement

These private companies were asked what kind of data they procured from the public

sector . Six data groups were predefined in the questionnaire, and one was left open for

further comments . The following diagram shows the results .

It is not surprising that

synoptical observations,

satellite images, radar

images and numerical

weather predictions have

been named by nearly all

respondents . The creation

or procurement of that type

of data usually requires large

station networks, satellites or

computing centres, and all this

data is produced by the public

sector . In the field ‘Others’,

the companies specified data

from national water agencies,

national road authorities, and environmental agencies, and data from the US market (all

types of meteorological data and information) .

The data volume of meteorological information the private companies procured from the

public sector between 2002 and 2007 had increased for 74% of the companies; 26% of

the companies said that the data volume has not significantly changed . The results of the

online questionnaire show that most private service providers (88%) would like to get

more data from the public sector in future; moreover, they ask for higher quality, for lower

prices and for better licence conditions . This result was also confirmed by other companies

during phone interviews .

The study revealed that the data volume measured over time could be an unreliable

indicator, since the data formats and compression levels would vary over the years and as

a consequence would not yield comparable results . Only a few companies (6) answered to

the questions how the total income has changed between 2002 and 2007 . All respondents

said that there is an increase in the total income; for one company by a factor of 4 over

five years .

Figure 50 – Meteorological information procured from public sector

17

15

13

13

6

4

4

3

1

0 5 10 15 20

SYNOPS

Satellite Images

Radar Images

Forecast Models

Climate

Statistics, charts

Other Public Auth. Data

Lightning Maps

Weather Warnings

Number of mentions

44




The comment box to that question provided a place to state additional reasons . Some of

those are shown here:

� All meteorological information that is available to public sector should be also available

to private sector, and for the same conditions (fair market) .

� No private company can afford all the data they would need (in Europe) . We are in very

unfair position compared to e .g . US companies .

� Prices should be based on market potential, not on cost for creation .

� Improve the availability of MI and double-check the licences; they are currently too

restrictive .

4.2.3 Data policy

Most of the private companies that filled in the questionnaire noticed a change in

data policy within the public sector in the past five years . The re-users were asked to

assess the different aspects of the current data policies of PSI holders on a scale from 0

(unacceptable) to 7 (very good) .11 This assessment backs up the former findings about

current data policies of PSI holders . The aspects of coverage, delivery formats, products

and speed of delivery were assessed by the re-users as better than prices, licensing and

transparency .

The companies mentioned changes in licensing, redistribution and regulation . The

comments about the changes in data policies of public bodies show that the private sector

is still dissatisfied with the current situation .

The private companies also

mark as inadequate (below

3) the current quality of the

PSI holder’s data policies .

Transparency, licences and

prices, in particular, are rated

as poor . The only criterion to

come close to good ratings is

that of delivery formats .

Eight out of 19 companies

were aware of the European

Directive on the re-use of

Public Sector Information or

its national implementation in

their country . This implies that nearly 60% thereof were not aware of the Directive or of

its implementation in their national legal systems .

11 The graph should be read as 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good) where: the range between 1–2 should be considered poor, 3–4 reasonable and 5–6 as good .

Figure 51 – How would you assess the current data policy of PSI holders on a scale from 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good)?

Delivery formats

Coverage

Speed of delivery

Number of Products

Transparency

Licensing

Prices

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

45

4

4.2.4 Web portals

Public sector web portals are used by private customers, but not very intensively (10 out of

19 companies confirmed the use of public sector web portals) . Most data is downloaded

from FTP servers at regular intervals (hourly or daily) . Continuous download of data or

products from web portals is rarely used .

Much meteorological information downloaded from public sector web portals or online

servers (FTP transfer) is data from the US National Weather Service (NCEP) or from the US

weather satellite operator NOAA . This data is free and includes Europe .

4.2.5 Substitution

As mentioned earlier, much meteorological information is procured by private service

providers from data sources outside European NMSs; principal sources are the public

authorities in the United States (NCEP, NOAA) .

User-friendly licence conditions and most data being provided free of charge or for only

marginal costs of delivery encourage European service providers to obtain the data from

the US instead of from European NMS . For instance, in 2007 a German private service

provider procured 99 .87% of the 4 .300 Gigabytes of MI from the servers of the US

national weather services .

If certain basic datasets are reported by re-users as not available from the public sector

because of lack of data, high prices or bad licensing conditions . The private sector

nowadays also starts to produce the data at their own cost . A good example is Germany .

The German NMS has more than 2 .000 ground stations on the main and secondary

station network; it is an enormous and dense ground-station network and according to

the remarks in the questionnaire from re-users, it has raised the number of freely available

SYNOP data stations (primary network) from 23 to 61 in the past .

Despite the above, the number of freely available stations is considered still too low to

allow private companies to undertake some added value services, such as high-quality

weather analysis or predictions, especially for local use . An interesting example of the

approach to solve the problem is Meteomedia AG case . Meteomedia AG (Switzerland)

has built up a huge station network in Germany and Switzerland with around 600 sites

to collect meteorological information at its own cost . Through this approach Meteomedia

AG has access to an important number of additional weather stations allowing them to

perform certain services .

Another example is a service provider from Croatia who has also reported the collection of

data with ground meteorological stations not operated by their NMS .

Many comments were given by the re-users about the quality of the data they get from

European NMS; for example, radar images, offered for free on the web portals of NMSs,

do not have sufficient resolution needed by re-users . The appropriate raw radar images

46




are available but not for free and re-users could have to pay high fees for the re-use .

Respondents stated that the lack of quality and quantity are the main drivers why private

service providers search for data substitution .

4.2.6 Customers

The private customers were asked to specify their customer groups . The following chart

shows the average mentions by 19 private companies over predefined customer groups .

A given value per company

and customer group can

vary; one company may be

a specialist in the Energy

and Water sector, another

specialist in creating weather

charts for the broadcasting

sector .

Nevertheless, the customer

groups Internet Services,

Broadcasting and Print Media

(the new and old media

market) contribute 43% to the

total income . The Energy and

Water Sector, with 19%, is

also an important sector .

The red bars in the diagram

above mark the customer

groups that are also marked

in the corresponding diagram

of the public sector (refer to

Figure 46 in section 4 .1 .5) .

The share of total income of

19 private service providers

for these customer groups

is about 85% . On the other

hand, these customer groups constitute 49% of the total data volume that is delivered

directly by NMSs (without intermediaries as private service providers) . This shows that the

private service providers and NMSs are competitors in most of the customer groups .

4.2.7 Suggestions and Remarks

The private companies were asked to make general suggestions or remarks addressing the

re-use of meteorological information .

Figure 52 – Customer groups of private service providers

Figure 53 – Percentage of total income by customer groups

0% 5 % 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Internet Services Broadcasting and Media

Traffic Sector (Airlines, Shipping, …) Energy and Water Sector

Insurances Financial and Investment Sector

Building / Engineering Sector

Agriculture Sector

Food Industry and Retail Public administration

Research Institutes Private people

Others (Tourism, …)

43%

19%

25%

9%

4% Internet Services, Broadcasting,

Media

Energy and Water Sector

Transport, Financial , Building,

Agriculture and Food

Public administration, Research

Institutes, Private People

Others


47

4

Most of the remarks refer to the dominant position of the NMS who are the holders of

raw data . Re-users advocated a strict separation from all business operations from PSI

holders as is the case in several Member States . In their view, PSI holders should reduce

their activities to the production of raw data, while re-users offer value added products

and client-focused services . Re-users complain about a lack of transparency and control

about the compliance with the non-discrimination regulations .

Another issue concerns the data delivery models of European NMS . Many re-users refer

to the market for MI in the United States and request lower prices, easier availability

and more co-operation . “Availability is needed 24/7 without the requirement for human

intervention . Such availability is common in the US but is unusual in Europe .”

Some re-users complain about the organization of ECOMET, which is considered to be a

barrier for re-use of public meteorological data, as it prevents competition between NMS .

On the other hand, re-users from new Member States would advocate that all Weather

services in EU countries should be automatically members of ECOMET, which would help

to acquire data for standardized licence conditions .

4.3 Case Studies

Two case studies are briefly summarized below . Both illustrate two different approaches to

licensing and pricing practices in the meteorological sector .

4.3.1 EU – ECOMET

One of the objectives of the study was to provide a number of examples of current

practice of PSI reuse in the EU . In the meteorological sector 50% of the responding NMSs

called the ECOMET an example of best practice for facilitating cross-border re-use of MI .

ECOMET was involved in the discussion about the PSI Directive from the beginning .

When the final version of the PSI Directive was published, ECOMET considered that their

existing data policy (established in 1995) was entirely in accordance with the Directive .

The ECOMET’s licensing conditions apply to all commercial use of meteorological

information . The website ecomet .eu presents the principles, tariffs (price list of all

available MI) and licence conditions for re-users and holders . Collective price reductions

and composition of data packages against reduced prices are also defined .

These predefined sets of licensing conditions could be adjusted by NMSs licensing

policies, but they formulate mandatory details for delivery and payment conditions,

intellectual property rights and limitations of use . Predefined sets of conditions are

available for re-users such as publisher/broadcasters, Internet publishers and service

providers . The members of ECOMET act on the same statutory level, what in reality

leads to more transparency on MI re-use . A very important clause in the statute of

ECOMET is the rule, which does not allow Private Service Providers to obtain data from

48




NMS of other European countries . The re-users have always to contact their national

NMS to ask for MI . This prevents competition between the NMS in the delivery of data;

however it is an issue criticized by some re-users as a limitation to only one point-of-

access to data .

Private Service Providers would also like to see that the handling of MI is similar to the

conditions for access and re-use on the US market . However, ECOMET’s view is different

on this topic; due to different economic and natural initial situations a comparison

between both markets is not valid .

4.3.2 Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) in Germany

Despite the relative prosperity of the meteorological market sector in Germany with more

than 25 private weather services, the German NMS ‘Deutscher Wetterdienst’ (DWD) is

strongly criticized by the private companies for its re-use policy .

Re-users complain about the refusal of the DWD to make certain raw data available .

Some of the data was reported not to be available to private companies, either for free or

for charging, for example most of the data collected by the primary and secondary ground

station network . Another issue concerns access to weather radar images, as some re-users

claim that access to this raw information is not available, not even for a fee .

A set of the above mentioned problems that were reported by German re-users is supported

in writing by their national association ‘Verband deutscher Wetterdienstleister’ (VDW) . The

situation described in Germany, re-users claim, could lead to a heavy data substitution;

for example a substitution of images taken by European Weather satellites (e .g . Metop,

Meteosat) with images from US sources (e .g . NOAA satellites), which are available for free .

It is claimed that an important potential for the development of the meteorological market,

in particular for Germany, remains underexploited due to some of the above mentioned

policies practiced by the DWD . However, DWD sees all its practices as being in accordance

with the laws and edicts that define its public tasks .

4.4 Conclusions for the Meteorological Sector

Most European NMSs that responded to the survey indicated that their income on the sale

of MI to re-users has increased between 2002 and 2007 . In particular, as the increase can

be monitored against the numbers for MI requests and figures for the download volume

during this period, there has been proven an increase in the re-use of meteorological

information in Europe .

At the same time, many private service providers procure/access basic meteorological

datasets from the US market, since the data is much cheaper or even free . The share

of the US data may rise up to 99% for some companies . Meanwhile, even in the

meteorological sector, private companies started to substitute PSI by producing some data

on their own – even if this means important investments . German and Croatian re-users

49

4

have built up their own meteorological ground station networks to collect synoptical data

using their own station grids .

Fifteen out of 25 NMSs stated in their responses that they had changed their data policy

since 2002 (for example: Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden) . Only five of those

15 NMSs (Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Spain) attributed the change in

data policy to changes in the national legislation and only partly related to the Directive

on the re-use of PSI . A good example is the Norwegian NMS as it offers all the MI that it

produces free of charge or charges only marginal costs .

Most of the NMSs, which have changed their data policy since 2002 attributed the

changes to an increase in the number of products, to a greater speed of data delivery or

to a change in the level of prices – lowering fees, but not to a significant change in how

the data is licensed . According to the increasing trend to put more data available on the

internet for free and to make it more accessible, it is commonly observed that the amount

of downloaded data and the number of daily hits has substantially increased . This ties in

well with the results from the geographical information sector .

The statements from the NMSs are in line with the results of the re-user survey . Most

re-users noticed a change in the data policies of their NMS, but only partly related to

licensing and data regulation . The assessment of the current quality of the PSI holders’

data policy shows that the private service providers marked the prices, licences and

transparency for MI as poor (between 1 and 2 on the scale) . The only criterion to come

close to good ratings has been that of delivery formats .

The case study from Germany was selected to highlight certain problems in the re-use of

MI data concerning availability of data, some aspects of pricing policies for present and

historical information as well as the substitution matter, claimed by German re-users . It

seems to be a problem not referring to Germany alone as the participating private service

providers from other countries reported some difficulties in re-use too . During interviews,

many of them signalled that it is quite hard to survive on the market in competition with

NMS due to unequal licensing and availability of data conditions .

Pointing to these problems in discussion with representatives from NMS or their

governmental ministries in charge, they refer to the definition of the public tasks that NMS

are to fulfil as defined in specific laws . Re-users challenge this statement and the fact that

NMS could be undertaking services that naturally should not be performed by them .

According to the above the association of German private meteorological service providers

(VDW) complains also that, now in Germany, no established body is able to oversee the

commercial and licensing practices of the DWD and to guarantee non-discrimination and

fair market conditions .

The questionnaire has shown that the private service providers that participated in the

survey expressed concerns to a greater or lesser extent with the handling of PSI re-use .

They would like to see the European public sector starting to handle PSI re-use with an

approach similar to that of the American market, with easier availability of MI, lower

50




prices, more cooperation with the private sector and a clear distinction between the

public sector handling MI free for all users and the private sector offering value-added

services . ECOMET dissents on this topic and takes a comparison with the US market for

inappropriate .

5 Re-use of Legal and Administrative Information (LAI)

5.1 LAI – PSI holders

Public bodies that may be regarded as sources of legal and administrative information

(LAI) can be separated into originating institutions, which have been empowered to

make law (parliaments, courts etc .) and holders of legal information and administrative

information, which have the responsibility of collecting and disseminating legal and


Additional analysis of the PSI holders shows that they also cover a spectrum of functions .

These range from the production of legal and administrative information, its collection

to its dissemination . Using these criteria, the PSI holders were sub-divided into five

categories:

Country Category title Category description

Category 1 LAI Production only

Public bodies that make law, i .e . parliaments, ministries and courts, and that have a legal duty to disseminate the information they produce .

Category 2 LAI Production / Repository

As category 1, but the public body also acts as a central repository for legal and administrative information produced by other public bodies .

Category 3 LAI Production / Repository / Euro

As category 2, but the public body in addition to its function as a central repository is also able to request payment for the information it holds .

Category 4 LAI Collection / Repository

Public bodies that are not part of the formal law making apparatus, but instead have a mandate to act as a central repository for legal and administrative information produced by other public bodies .

Category 5 LAI Collection / Repository / Euro

As category 4, but the public body in addition to its function as a central repository is also able to request payment for the information it holds .

Important for and implicit in the categorisation, as given above, is the distinction between

the standard dissemination, which is for the most part a legal duty, and enhanced

dissemination of legal and administrative information that goes beyond the formal

requirements of what has been referred to above as standard dissemination .

With respect to judicial information, the distinction between the standard dissemination

and enhanced dissemination of legal and administrative information is often harder to

discern . This is due to the largely operational autonomy of the courts . Generally speaking,

the President of the court would be the person to approach regarding the operational

aspects of re-use policy . Following long and well established practices, found in both

51

4/5

common law and civil legal traditions, it is common practice that the judges that hear

the individual cases often decide themselves or in a collegiate arrangement (i .e . as a

formal group reflecting the set up of the court, e .g . as a Chamber or Senate) on matters

concerning the selection of cases for publication and the means of publication .


Altogether 24 public bodies in 17 Member States completed the survey in their capacity as

PSI holders of legal and administrative information .

A list of the PSI holders that took part in the

survey is given in the annex . The graphic

below indicates the distribution of the 24

respondents across the five categories as

described above .

Of the total number of respondents, 70%

were involved in the formal law making

process in the sense of enacting primary

or secondary legislation or passing

judgments . 62% of the total number of

respondents were involved in the production

of law only, that is to say they had no

additional responsibilities for the enhanced

dissemination of legal and administrative

information .

At 38%, little more than a third of the

total respondents had responsibilities

for enhanced dissemination of legal and

administrative information as described

above . Of the total number of respondents,

only 17%, while not involved in the formal

law making processes, have responsibilities

for the enhanced dissemination of legal and

administrative information that involved the

central collection of the information and its

dissemination against established forms of

payment, e .g . licensing or subscription fees .


The first question in the online questionnaire

sought to categorise the organizational structure of the respondent . Respondents were

asked to classify themselves on the basis of whether they were a public administration, a

Figure 54 – PSI Holders (Legal): Countries having provided at least one answer to the questionnaire for PSI holders on the re-use of legal information

No answer

Answered the questionnaire or

telephone interview

UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE

LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

Total number of countries who

provided at least an answer: 17

Total number of public bodies

who answered: 24

Figure 55 – PSI Holders (Legal): Portrayal of respondents by functional category covering production of legal and administrative information,

its collection and its dissemination.

62%

4%

4%

13%

17%

Total number of respondents: 24

LAI Production only

LAI Production / Repository

LAI Production / Repository / Euro

LAI Collection / Repository

LAI Collcetion / Repository / Euro

52




public agency organised like a private enterprise, a public body with substantial financial

autonomy, a public private partnership or even a private company .

Of the 24 respondents, 46% were

government organizations, of which only

a third were Ministries of Justice or their

delegated representatives . 37% of the

total number of respondents were courts

and in all cases, courts of the highest

instance, i .e . Supreme and senior courts .

A far smaller proportion, i .e . 13%, were

official producers and distributors of official

journals or officially designated publications

offices . Only 4% of the respondents were

parliamentary bodies .

Among the respondents, the question

concerning the role of private enterprise

or public private partnership only involved

Latvia and Belgium . In Latvia, the

dissemination of official legal material

is handled by the government owned

Latvian company Latvijas Västnesis . In

Belgium, the Belgisches Stattblatt is a semi-

commercial organization responsible for the

dissemination of official information .

The graphic below shows the distribution

of the organizational structures of the

respondents by country .

Attributable to the differences in the

organizational structures of the respondents

and their respective functions, it was

common for respondents to be a PSI holder

of more than one category of legal and

administrative information . In terms of the

three categories of information delivered,

legislation was the most common type, the

relative proportions being as follows:

While proceeding further with the analysis,

it will be helpful to consider in more detail

certain aspects of legal and administrative

information . These concern the scope,

coverage and characteristics of legal and

administrative information . The additional

Figure 56 – PSI Holders (Legal): Organizational structures of the respondents

Figure 57 – Nature of the respondents: legal and administrative information

Court, supreme court

Governmental body

Publications office or gazette

Parliamentary body


UK

IE

SE

FR

ES

PT

MT CY

EL

IT

NL

FI

BE LU CZ

AT

PL

RO

BG

DK

SI

HU

SK

LT

EE

LV

NO

CH

DE

Figure 58 – PSI Holders (Legal) – Information disseminated by information type

46%

37%

13% 4%


Governmental

body Court, supreme court Gazette, publications office Parliamentary body

0 2 4 6 8

10 12 14 16 18 20 22

Legal Administrative Judicial


53

5

background, given where appropriate, will aid an understanding of the apparent

contradictions between PSI delivery and web portals and also explain why some of the

points raised with respect to geoinformation and meteorological information in the other

parts of this report do not apply to legal and administrative information .

5.1.3 PSI delivery

The total income from the delivery of legal and administrative information from PSI

holders seems to be not a relevant indicator for measuring the re-use of legal and

administrative information, as the overwhelming majority of respondents, i .e . 79%,

answered that they derive no income from their PSI on the basis that the information is

available to both private and commercial users free of charge .

17% of the respondents gave details of income .

Significantly, all these respondents belonged to the

category of central repositories with an additional mandate

to disseminate legal and administrative information (see

above) . Of the four respondents that did give information

regarding income, the range of income figures in 2007

varied from between €300,000 to €1 .8 million and on

average increased by some 40% since 2002 .

Unfortunately, respondents gave no or very little

information regarding download volume in MB/GB and/or

number of documents downloaded . The same proportions

were applicable for information sought regarding the

indicators on the number of re-use requests and download

volume in MB . With respect to the question regarding the

download volume in terms of the number of documents

downloaded, the information submitted was even less . Only

15% of the respondents gave information, 85% did not .

Nevertheless, it is significant that the respondents that were able to submit some kind

of indicator information were always the same consistent respondents . Indeed, they all

belonged to category 5 in the PSI holder classification given above . That is to say, the

respondents were all PSI holders of legal and administrative information who have a

tasking as central repositories with a mandate to disseminate information beyond the basic

legal requirement .

The positive side to this observation is that PSI holders have been very active in making

substantial amounts of legal and administrative information available free of charge . In

doing so, they meet the spirit of the PSI Directive . However, the lack of available indicators

prevents a monitoring of the re-use .

In conclusion, data submitted by the respondents indicates significant improvements in

PSI re-use in terms of income and document downloads since 2002 . However, the data

Figure 59 – Question to PSI Holders (Legal): “Do you provide your information free of charge?”

79%

17%

4%

Total number of answers: 24 Yes No n/a

54




available in Europe as a whole to make such assessments is sparing and for the most

part hardly visible . Due mainly to the dominance amongst PSI holders of law making

organizations that disseminate legal and administrative information – more often than not

free of charge as part of their formal responsibilities – this kind of indicator information

is likely to become increasingly invisible in the future unless positive action is taken to

capture it .

5.1.4 Web portals

Given that web based applications have now become commonplace, standard applications

respondents were asked to give details regarding the existence and use of information via

web portals as a means of making legal and administrative information generally available .

Respondents were asked specifically to state whether their organization offers legal and

administrative information via a web portal and if so, to provide the link(s) to the portal(s) .

Questions were also asked about usage and registration as well as whether the web portal

was promoted as an access or contact point for PSI re-use .

Almost all, i .e . 96% of the organizations involved in the survey, maintain a web portal .

The high instance of web portals can be explained by the requirement upon law making

bodies and their agents to disseminate legal and administrative information, which has

already been discussed in detail in a previous section .

That there is a high instance of the use of web portals as a means of disseminating legal

and administrative information is to be expected given the formal responsibility of law

making public bodies to disseminate information . In the majority of cases, and specifically

where legislation and judicial information is concerned, re-use of the information for

individual users, i .e . citizens, lawyers etc ., is implied or covered by a general reference . The

requirement, as stated in Article 7 of the EU PSI Directive, that any applicable conditions

and standard charges for the re-use of documents held by public sector bodies shall be

pre-established and published through electronic means where possible and appropriate

was further examined in an additional analysis of the 27 web portals listed by all the

respondents .

Of the 27 web portals analysed, 44% made an explicit reference to commercial re-use of

the information obtainable through the portal . The references however were mostly to be

found in a general disclaimer clause on the website as opposed to being explicitly stated in

a declaration of information re-use policy .

In stark contrast, only 11% of the web portals analysed made an explicit reference to any

form of charges for the re-use of the information obtainable via the web portal .

The analysis also considered the extent to which the web portals and the information

on them were available in other languages . A distinction was made between the

multilingualism of the web portal interface on the one hand and the legal and

administrative information, here referred to as “content”, which could be obtained

through the portal on the other hand .

55

5

Of the web portals examined, 59% have multilingual

aspects to them . Only a minority have rendered both

interface and some content in other languages . The web

sites to do so were mostly those run by European Union

institutions .

Nevertheless, the fact that 44% of the web portals cited

in the survey have rendered their interface in another

language is a high percentage . It is significant given that

a mixture of influences, be they political, social, historical,

cultural or linguistic, effectively limit the inter-operability of

legal and administrative information and hence the use of

this kind of information in services across Europe .

Of the 44% that offer their interface in other languages,

half of these web portals are run by local authorities

and are able to offer multilingual access to their portal

using automatic translation services . The constructive use of such services increases the

likelihood that legal and administrative information – if not the content itself, then at

least access to it – will be more readily included in the development of Community-wide

services as envisaged by the PSI Directive .

5.1.5 Customers

The PSI holders were asked to name their most important customer groups . Customers

of PSI holders in this context included media and publishing houses, providers of legal

information services, law firms, banks, insurance companies, other service providers

as well as the public administration itself, educational establishments and non-profit

organizations .

The greater majority of

respondents, i .e . 90%,

that answered the online

questionnaire were able to

give information indicating

who were their main

customers in the sense

of re-users of legal and

administrative PSI . Only

20% of the respondents

reported that they provide

for special user groups . The

special user groups in both

these cases were the judiciary

and sections of the public

administration .

Figure 60 – Web portals available in other languages

Figure 61 – Customer groups (average)

15%

44%

41%

Total number of web portals: 27

Interface and content Interface only Neither

7%

30%

11% 6%

27%

9%

10% Media and publishing Law firms / legal services providers Banking and insurance Other services and real estate Public administration and courts

Private individuals Others (Education, etc.)


56




Some of the reactions of respondents to the study confirmed the almost paradoxical

view that certain legal publishers, most notably those who rely heavily on authors for the

publishing house’s content for their products and services, tend not to regard themselves

as re-users of legal and administrative information .

Customer substitution

through the use of link-back

mechanisms

One of the questions in the

survey asked PSI holders to

give information on the use

of link-back mechanisms as a

means of re-using legal and


An important indicator

of re-use, the link-back

indicator, draws upon one

of legal information’s special

attributes, namely the ability

to uniquely refer to and locate a legal document through the use of a citation . Link-back

mechanisms are best explained through an example .

Assuming a legal information provider wants to include EU legislation in their online

products and services . There are two basic options .

In the first option (Case I in

Figure 63), the provider could

licence the EUR-Lex data from

the EU Publications Office .

This would involve signing a

licence to use the data and

then assimilating the EUR-Lex

data into the provider’s own

system, a process that can

involve a substantial effort

and cost . With the second

option (Case II in Figure 63)

the provider could insert links

into his own data that link

back to specific documents on

the EUR-Lex service . That this

is possible and usable from a

legal point of view is, on the

one hand, due to permanent

link technology, but also, on the other hand, due to the strict and disciplined application

of citation systems in the use of legal information .

Figure 62 – Publishers relying on authors do not regard themselves as re-users of legal information

Figure 63 – Comparison between local database and link-back mechanism

ProductsderivedfromPSI

- Legal

comment

- Thematic

summaries

- Analysis

- Handbooks

- Learning

materials

- etc.

Informationproducers

- Parliaments

- Government

departments

- Courts

- Otherpublic

authorities

- etc.

Authors

Professionals

havingregularanddirect

contactwith

information

producers:

- Professors

- Judges

- Lawyers

- Consultants

- etc.

PUBLISHERS

PublicSectorInformation

(PSI)

- Legal

information

- Judicial

information

- Administrative

information

RawData

OnlineServices

Platform

PSIHolder EnduserLegalserviceprovider(re‐user)

Copyand

update

Localcopy

ofthedata

CaseI:there‐userownsandmaintainsalocalcopyoftherawdata

RawDataOnlineServicesPlatform


CaseII:there‐user’swebsitelinksdirectlybacktotheholder’sdatabase

Figure 0: Comparison between local database and link-back mechanism

RawData

OnlineServices

Platform


Copyand

update

Localcopy

ofthedata






RawData

OnlineServices

Platform


Copyand

update

Localcopy

ofthedata






RawData

OnlineServices

Platform


Copyand

update

Localcopy

ofthedata






57

5

Using such link-back techniques based on permanent links, the provider is able to add

considerable extra value (e .g . access to multiple language versions of the document) to his

products and services . It also has the consequence that the provider usually no longer has

a need to conclude a direct licence with the PSI holder, in this example the EU Publications

Office . The provider is also spared the extra costs of assimilating the EUR-Lex data into

his own content management or database systems and does not need to concern himself

with updates .

However, where the provider declines the option of a EUR-Lex license and uses a link-back

option instead, the re-use of this important source of data will become invisible unless an

attempt is made to capture and indicate the extent of redirected re-usage through the link

back mechanism .

Respondents were asked whether or not they were aware of re-use of the legal and

administrative information they hold by re-users employing a link-back mechanism . Of

the PSI holders that responded to the question on the use of link-back mechanisms, 69%

reported that their customers make use of such an option to access and re-use legal and

administrative information . That said, none of the respondents were able to give any detailed

information on who had linked back . Nor were they able to give any indication on whether

or not they were aware that re-users have declined to licence legal and administrative

information from PSI holders, because they (i .e . the re-users) are able to add value to their

products and services using the more efficient and more cost effective link-back facility .

While the link-back option is a very attractive means of encouraging re-use of legal and

administrative information, in its current form, the link-back option could increasingly

render the re-use of legal and administrative information less visible . Nevertheless, the

visibility can be reassured by the collection of information on the suppliers of publications,

legal databases etc . and monitoring the income of re-users .

5.1.6 Data policy

Half of the respondents (50%) indicated a noticeable change

to their data policy since 2002 . Two separate respondents

who answered with no to this question, nevertheless

made the observation that e-Government initiatives and

programmes had markedly influenced the information

dissemination policy and practice of the public body .

Yet, only 33% of the respondents attributed the data policy

change to changes in legislation .

In response to the question “How has data policy

changed”, the respondents reported speed of data delivery

and number of products as more noticeable indicators of

change compared to changes in the pricing of information

or in the licensing conditions for PSI re-use .

Figure 64 – Question to PSI Holders (Legal): “Has your data policy recently changed?”

50%

33%

17%


58





In order to obtain information on the absolute level of prices, the survey sought to

compare the price of a standard product across the EU Member States . A similar exercise

was conducted for geoinformation and meteorological information .

As regards a standard product for legal and administrative information, respondents were

asked to provide the price of a decision from a senior court in civil and commercial matters

delivered in XML format . The question was modelled on a similar study involving company

information that asked for the price of annual financial statements in XBRL format . Only

one respondent gave a price and this was €1 .50 for a judicial decision in XML format . All

the other respondents gave zero for an answer stating that as the information was freely

accessible, the question was not relevant . None of the respondents, however, gave details of

whether the “free of charge” options also applied to data in specific formats such as XML .

The technical format is an important part of the question as it separates the individual and

occasional document re-user from the large scale, regular, mostly commercial re-user .

In contrast, the telephone interviews amongst PSI re-users (see below) revealed a

readiness amongst legal publishers to pay from between €2 to €15 for court decisions in

XML format acquired from a commercial service provider .

5.2 LAI – PSI re-users


In total, 39 re-users of legal and administrative information took part in the survey . Of

these, 13 took part in the online questionnaire and 26 agreed to a telephone interview .

The 39 respondents represented 14 different countries within the European Union . The

figure below indicates the spread of respondents across the countries represented .

Figure 65 – Question to PSI Holders (Legal): “Were the changes brought about by changes in legislation?”

Figure 66 – Question to PSI Holders (Legal): “How has the data policy changed?”


33%

21%

46%

2,67

2,50

1,67

0,67

0,50

0 1 2 3

Speed of delivery

Number of products

Number of delivery formats or delivery means

Level of prices

Ease of licensing

59

5

The range of respondents

also reflected the diversity

and complexity of the legal

information market .

Nevertheless, the respondents

could be allocated to the

following groups based on

their main business activity:

� Legal publisher / legal

information provider / law

firm: Just over half of the

respondents, 55%, were

from what can be regarded

as the classical re-user

markets of legal and

administrative information,

namely legal publishers,

legal information providers

and law firms . Given that

many legal publishers have

also developed online

services to supplement their

author-based business, the

two areas of business, i .e .

legal publishing and legal

information provision, were

regarded in such cases as a

single category .

� Legal information provider but not publisher: However, where a legal information

provider does not maintain a list of authors and demonstrates no author-based business

as such, these organizations were treated as a separate category . The company Recht

für Deutschland GmbH referred to in the case study below is an example of a company

falling into this category . Useful for the current study, this type of division in legal

publishing i .e . between legal publisher and legal information provider, is becoming

increasingly less clear and more difficult to sustain .

� Information provider / business information publisher / media company: Also

represented amongst the respondents as re-users of legal and administrative

information were information providers of scientific and technical information (6%), a

publisher of business information (2%) and a media company (2%) .

� Service provider: Significantly, the second largest group of re-users of legal

and administrative information, constituting some 35% of the total number of

respondents, were a group described generally as service providers . These were all

commercial organizations whose products and services are not normally identified

with the market for legal services nor legal publishing, but whose products and

services nevertheless rely heavily on access to and re-use of legal and administrative

Figure 67 – PSI re-users (Legal): Country of origin of the respondents

Figure 68 – Classification of PSI re-users (Legal) by market segment

0 2 4 6 8

10

Austria

Bulgari

a

Denmark

Finlan

d

France

German

y

Hunga

ry Ita

ly

Irelan

d

Latvi

a

Roman

ia

Spain

The N

etherl

ands

United

King

dom


Online Questionnaires Telephone Interviews

38%

11% 6%

6% 2%

2%

35%


Publisher / Legal information provider

Legal information provider

Law firm Information provider

Publisher / Business information Media company

Service provider

60




information . Examples of service providers in this category included a centre for

economic development, a specialist consultancy for tenders information, a publisher’s

trade association as well as a management consultancy specialising in patents and

information required by the pharmaceutical industry . Very noticeable too were the

three online questionnaire respondents in the services category all of whom were in

the property market .

The range and diversity of respondents reflected well the range, scope and diversity

of re-users in markets that re-use legal and administrative information . Most of the

large legal publishers – that in Europe constitute over 70% of the market for legal and

regulatory information (see European Online Information Report 2007, IRN Research,

UK) – were involved in the study .

5.2.2 Knowledge about PSI legislation

Respondents to the telephone survey were specifically asked whether they knew of the EU

PSI Directive and/or the national legislation, which implements the directive into national law .

Of the total number of

respondents, only 29% said

that they were aware of

the EU PSI Directive and

the respective national

implementing legislation .

Moreover, the respondents

who positively answered were

unable to link developments

in their business or markets to

the PSI Directive . In contrast,

58% stated clearly that they

had no awareness of the

directive and further 13%

declined to give an answer .

Seen in another way, the telephone survey indicates that 71%, that is well over two thirds

of re-users of legal and administrative information, i .e . legal publishers, legal information

providers and law firms, are not aware of the EU PSI Directive .

5.2.3 Procurement

Respondents could list one or more categories of information that they re-use . Of a total

number of 39 respondents, 28 procured legislation for the purpose of re-use, 22 procured

judicial information and 15 administrative information . 16 respondents regularly procured

both legal and judicial information and were all legal publishers or legal information

providers .

Figure 69 – Targeted question to PSI re-users (Legal): “Do you know of the PSI Directive of the EU or the national PSI legislation?” (Telephone survey only)

29%

58%

13%


Yes No n/a

61

5

The examples of administrative

information that respondents

have procured included:

� Trade register information

� Official bulletin

� Information on tenders

� Resolutions of local

authorities and town

councils

� Practice guidelines

� Resolutions of Ministries

and other executive bodies

� Building regulations

� County councils

� Contaminated land regulations

� Environmental information

� Highway schemes

� Local authorities information

� Planning enforcement information

� Road information

� Town planning and local land charges

Of particular significance is the extensive procurement of local authority and property-

related information that is being re-used by respondents from the United Kingdom . All

these respondents belonged to the PSI re-user category service provider .

Respondents were also asked to state from whom they procure legal and administrative

information for the purpose of its re-use . Again, many of the respondents listed more than

one type of PSI holder .

Not surprisingly, 28 out of 39

respondents obtained legal

and administrative information

for the purpose of re-use

from national sources . The

national sources were either

the originating institutions

themselves or a designated

national central repository,

e .g . the Federal Chancellery

in Austria or Office of Public

Sector Information (OPSI) in

the UK .

In contrast, 13 respondents obtained legal and administrative information for the purpose

of re-use from local government sources . The understanding however of “local” varied

Figure 70 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal) – “What kind of PSI do you use?”

Figure 71 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal) – “Where do you obtain your PSI?”

28

22

15

2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Legislation Judicial information

Administrative Information

Statistical information


9

28

13

18

3

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

EU institutions

National governments

Local governments

Courts Commercial providers


62




widely, going from the regional parliaments of the German Federal States on the one hand

to county councils in the United Kingdom on the other hand . Nine respondents obtained

administrative information for the purpose of re-use from the EU, i .e . mostly via EUR-Lex

for legislation and the website of the European Court of Justice for cases . 18 respondents

obtained their judicial information from the courts . The courts as PSI holders in this sense

were almost all supreme and senior courts as opposed to the courts of the lower instances .

Curiously, three respondents obtained the legal and administrative information they

needed from commercial providers . These were all respondents who belonged to the PSI

re-user category service provider . That is to say, these companies use legal information to

supplement and support their core business which itself does not involve legal publishing .

Their preference is to supplement their own services with legal information from an

established legal publisher rather than to process the original documentation themselves .

Also of note was the statement from one German legal publisher who in addition to the

court websites also regularly orders courts decisions from a specialist commercial firm,

because they are able to provide the required documentation in XML format .

5.2.4 Income

Respondents to the online questionnaire were asked for the generated income that

could be related to the re-use of legal and administrative information . In all, 9 out of 13

respondents submitted information concerning current income and increases since 2002 .

The range of income attributed to PSI re-use of legal and administrative information in

2007 amongst the respondents ranged at the lower end from €50,000 to €19 million at

the higher end, averaging at approximately €5 million per respondent . Significant were the

changes that had been recorded since 2002 .

In the legal publisher / legal information provider market segment, revenues attributed to

the re-use of legal and administrative information grew by 800% for a French respondent,

doubled for a Spanish respondent and grew by a half for an Italian respondent .

Considering only this part of the overall market, the survey indicates that the four legal

publishers, who also maintain legal information services, generated PSI related revenues

in 2007 to the level of €10 million per respondent . Compared to 2002, these respondents

increased these revenues by 230% .

When in contrast the respondents in the service providers market segment are

considered, the average generated by each of these respondents that can be attributed

to legal and administrative information lies in the region of €160,000 per respondent and

has grown by two-thirds since 2002 . It must be recalled that for the service providers

this source of income is not from their core business but is a peripheral and supplemental

source of income .

Very noticeable in this particular market segment were the revenue figures for the

respondents active in the UK property market . The average increase in income for these

63

5

respondents attributable to re-use of legal and administrative information has on average

more than doubled per organization since 2002 .

Given that the data set is small, care must be taken in interpreting the results and certainly

in extrapolating them with a view to making estimates of the value of the potential

markets for the re-use of legal and administrative information .

Nevertheless, the survey’s results do illustrate the impact that the re-use of legal and

administrative information can have on the core business of traditional, long-established

legal publishers . The high levels of income growth attributable to PSI re-use should be

contrasted with their equivalent for the legal publishers` traditional core business, which

would be considered prosperous where the growth rate tended toward high-end single

digit figures .12

5.2.5 Barriers

In order to identify where interest in the re-use of legal and administrative information lay,

respondents were specifically asked to give details of the kind of PSI they would like to

be able to obtain . And, where they have already made efforts to procure the information,

what barriers, if any, prevented them from doing so .

Desired legal and administrative PSI

Of the 13 respondents who completed the online questionnaire, 77% explicitly stated that

they would like to obtain more legal and administrative information from the public sector .

The remaining respondents declined to give data in this regard .

Both the respondents to the online questionnaire and those that took part in the

telephone interviews stated they would like to obtain more legal and administrative

information from the public sector and gave further information on the type of

information they would like to procure . The information types are listed according to PSI

re-user category in the table below . The table indicates a correlation between the category

of PSI re-user and the legal and administrative PSI they would like to procure .

PSI Re-user Category Category title Category description

Publisher / Legal information provider 15 •CourtsofAppeal•Casesfromregionalcourts•Caselawoffirstinstance•Administrativecourts•Legislationwithannexes•Parliamentaryinformation•Ministerialinformation

Legal information provider 5 •Regionallegislation•Ministerialinformation•Decisionsoflowerinstancecourts

12 European Online Information Market 2007, IRN Research, UK

64




PSI Re-user Category Category title Category description

Law firm 2 •Decisionsofspecialisedcourts•Decisionsoflowerinstancecourts

Information provider 2 •Parliamentaryinformation•EUandnationallegislation

Publisher – Business information 1 •CommerceRegister•LandRegister•BrandRegister

Media company 1 •SingleclickaccesstoPSI

Service provider 13 •EUlawalerts•Buildingregulations/control•Environmentalinformation•Environmentalregister•Highwayschemes•Highwayworksschedule•Trafficschemes

Particularly noticeable is the difference between PSI re-users from the legal information

provision side of the market and those who belonged to the service provider category:

Legal publisher / legal information provider / law firm: PSI re-users from the legal

information provision side of the market are looking for more primary and secondary

legal information, i .e . legislation and court decisions . Noticeable is the recurrence of the

desire to obtain decisions of the courts of lower instance . This category of PSI re-user also

expressed an interest in legal and administrative PSI produced by ministries .

Service provider: In contrast, the PSI re-users who belonged to the service provider

category expressed their interest in legal and administrative PSI not in terms of types

of information but rather in terms of information by theme . The themes listed involved

building control, the environment, as well as traffic and roads management and reflected

the dominance in the service category of PSI re-users active in markets involving town

planning and property .

Barriers to procurement

Respondents were also asked

to supply the survey with

information on the barriers

they had encountered trying

to procure the desired legal

and administrative PSI . The

most common barriers

encountered were “restrictive

licensing”, “high prices” and

“unreliable availability” .

The barrier “unreliable

availability” was given by PSI

Figure 72 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal): “Why don’t you obtain more legal and administrative information from the public sector?”

7 6 6

2 2 1 1

0

2

4

6

8

Restrictive licensing

Unreliable availability

High prices Slow delivery times

Poor data quality

Difficult formats

Others


65

5

re-users from the categories: publisher / legal information provider; media company and

service provider and refers to the irregular supply of information from the PSI holder to

the PSI re-user . An example of this is the supply of judicial information from the lower

instance courts . Whilst such information usually falls automatically into the public domain,

its supply to PSI re-users can be sporadic – and hence unreliable – due to the limited

resources of the court to disseminate the information .

Rejected requests

Respondents were asked to give information on instances where a request for legal and

administrative information for the purpose of its re-use was rejected . Of the respondents

that completed the online questionnaire, 24% reported that their requests for re-use of legal

and administrative information were turned down . The rejections occurred less frequently

amongst the PSI re-users in the categories involving legal information specialists (i .e . legal

publisher / legal information provider/ law firms) than in the service provider category .

In the legal specialist category, a legal information provider in Germany had their requests

for the re-use of legal and administrative information rejected by a Federal Ministry on

the basis that the Ministry was bound by contractual obligations to refer such requests to

juris GmbH, the official government supplier of legal information . In another example, a

German lawyer was refused judicial information from a senior court in Bavaria, again with

the reference that the requester should contact juris GmbH .

Amongst the service providers, the PSI re-users involved in the property market in the

United Kingdom all experienced relatively high levels (from 10% to 40% of the total

number of requests made) of re-use request rejections . The reason for rejection in virtually

all cases lay in the fact that the data in question involved personal information and was

therefore subject to restrictions imposed by data protection legislation .

5.2.6 Data policy

Of the 39 respondents who took part in the survey, 80% stated that they had noticed a

change in PSI holder data policy since 2002 . In contrast, 20% said they had not .

However, virtually none of the respondents regardless of whether they had participated in

the online questionnaire or in the telephone interviews were able to relate changes in PSI

holder data policy to changes in their income from legal and administrative PSI re-use .

Respondents were also asked to assess the current data policy of PSI holders on a scale

from 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good) in terms of pricing, licensing, transparency,

products, speed of delivery, delivery formats and coverage .

The assessments given by the 13 respondents who submitted answers in the online

questionnaire are given in Figure 73 . It is significant that the assessments fall essentially into

two parts . In the first part, information coverage, delivery formats, speed of delivery and

products all lie in the range between reasonable (3–4) and good (5–6) . In direct contrast,

66




the second part shows that

the transparency of PSI holder

data policy, licensing and

prices are all rated as just a

little above poor (1–2) by the

PSI re-users .

The assessments indicate that

the general availability of legal

and administrative information

has improved as far as PSI

re-users are concerned . The

improved availability can be

attributed to an improvement

in the general legal and administrative information dissemination activities of public

bodies . From the point of view of PSI re-users, these activities have been triggered largely

by general IT and internet-related developments and the e-Government programmes that

were started in order to assimilate them .

However, the low assessments for transparency, licensing and prices indicate that the

business aspects governing PSI re-use have not improved . In particular the low assessment

for transparency refers not only to the lack of information on re-use policy, which includes

details on terms and conditions of re-use . It also refers more generally to a complete lack

of clarity as to what information is available and critically, where does the information

dissemination task of the public body producing the information begin and end?

The assessments highlight the difference between making information available as part

of an information dissemination requirement and making information available for re-use .

In the first part of the above assessment coverage, delivery formats, speed of delivery

and products receive a higher ranking, because these are all activities covered by the

requirements upon public bodies to make their information available . In the second

part, transparency, licensing and prices receive a much lower assessment, because these

activities all refer to the business aspects of PSI re-use, i .e . not information dissemination .

The message from the survey here is that all stakeholders involved in the re-use of legal

and administrative information must take care not to regard the formal requirement

upon a public body to disseminate information as synonymous with an approval or

permission to re-use the information . Just because legal and administrative information is

disseminated to the public domain does not mean in practice that conditions have been

laid down for its re-use .

5.2.7 Web portals

Given that the delivery of PSI via web portals for the purpose of re-use has gained

in importance, the survey asked questions about the usage of web portals and what

suggestions PSI re-users had for their improvement .

Figure 73 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal) – How would you assess the current data policy of PSI holders on a scale from 0 (unacceptable) to 7 (very good)?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Licensing

Prices

Transparency

Coverage

Delivery formats

Products

Speed of delivery


67

5

Usage of web portals

Of the respondents that took part in the online questionnaire and the telephone

interviews, almost all of them, i .e . 92%, use web portals to obtain legal and administrative

information . The 8% that said they do not use web portals were service providers who

licence the PSI they require directly from the PSI holder .

One respondent, a service provider from Denmark, said that web portals enabled

them to have data-mining robots running all the time . The robots are tasked to find

new documents as well as documents based on selection criteria set by the editors . An

innovative way of locating information for the purpose of its re-use, the use of such

technical means, akin to the link-back options discussed earlier, runs the risk of making

the evidence of re-use less visible . In contrast, the single exception to the use of web

portals was the respondent from Romania . In Romania, publishers are obliged to request

information from each individual institution producing PSI, as there is no central web

portal or repository for the information .

In the online questionnaire, respondents were asked to name the web portals they use .

In all 27 were listed, of which three are maintained by EU institutions, 15 by national

institutions and nine by regional or local institutions .

Asked about the frequency of their use of web portals, 38% of the respondents to the online

questionnaire stated that they use web portals on a daily basis, 46% on a weekly basis and

only 8% on a monthly basis . Put another way, 84% (i .e . 46% + 38%) of the respondents

draw upon web portals for legal or administrative information on a weekly or less basis .

Satisfaction of PSI re-users regarding web portals

Yet, despite such extensive use of web portals, only 38% of the online questionnaire

respondents were satisfied with the web portals, the remaining 54% that answered stated

explicitly their dissatisfaction .

Figure 74 – Distribution by region of web portals used by PSI re-users (Legal)

Figure 75 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal): “How frequently do you obtain legal and administrative

information from the public sector on the web portal?”

3

15

9

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

EU National Regional or local

Total number of quoted portals: 27

38%

46%

8% 8%


Daily

Weekly Monthly n/a

68




The respondents gave as their wished for improvements the following suggestions in the

following order of priority: more services, a better ordering service, epayment mechanisms

and lastly more formats and faster delivery speeds .

An explanation for the apparently paradoxical results in the survey is that in practice, a

web-portal used by a PSI holder to disseminate legal and administrative information is not

automatically a web portal from which a potential re-user can procure information .

5.2.8 Customers

To evaluate the re-use of legal and administrative

information, it was important to get information about

the customers of PSI re-users . Here the survey sought

information on the PSI holders’ most important customer

groups and their share of the total income that the

company generated from the direct re-use of legal and


By far the biggest group of customers of PSI re-users of

legal and administrative information are law firms and

other organizations that provide legal services . This group

constituted 68% of the whole . Law firms and providers of

legal services were also the main customer groups of the

PSI re-users categorised as service providers and who are

active in the property markets .

Banking and insurance at 12% and the services industry at 10% were also identifiable

customer groups of PSI re-users that took part in the survey .

Figure 76 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal): “Are you satisfied with the current usability of the web portals?”

Figure 77 – Question to PSI re-users (Legal): “What improvements to the web portals are required?”

Figure 78 – Average client repartition (Online survey only, average)

38%

54%

8%


Yes No

n/a

5

4

4

2

2

0

0 2 4 6

More services

Better ordering service

ePayment

More formats

Higher delivery speed

Others

68%

12%

10%

2%

8%

Law firms / legal

services providers Banking and insurance Services industry Real estate



69

5

5.2.9 Suggestions

The survey concluded by asking respondents to make suggestions addressing the re-use of

legal and administrative information as well as the problems connected with the re-use of

legal and administrative information .

The answers were submitted as free text and analysed on the basis of their themes . The

results for the most recurring themes are given below .

The most common suggestion addressed the

need to create more awareness about the

re-use of PSI and on the PSI Directive itself .

This was closely followed by the related issue

of addressing the problem of competition

between public and private organizations

where there is contention and disagreement

regarding the definition of the “public task” .

This was ranked equal with a desire for more

service quality and formats for the purposes

of PSI re-use .

Curiously, a change of legislation was low

on the re-users’ agenda . This was possibly

due to the fact that the PSI Directive was

not known enough and respondents were

not familiar with the options for changing the current text of the PSI Directive . Similarly,

reducing the price of PSI or even giving it away free of charge was not the highest priority

of the PSI re-users .

5.3 Case Study

The case study concerns the company Recht für Deutschland GmbH (RfD), which

maintains and provides access to the biggest facsimile archive of official journals in

Germany at both the Federal and Federal State level . Article 7 of the PSI Directive

concerns transparency and provides that any applicable conditions and standard charges

for the re-use of documents held by public authorities shall be pre-established and

published through electronic means where possible and appropriate . This case study

highlights the importance of transparency for successful PSI re-use and emphasises the

critical and decisive role it plays in realising the aims and objectives of the PSI Directive .

The Recht für Deutschland database contains over 1 .3 million documents and draws

upon official information from official legal journals (Gesetzesblätter, Verordnungsblätter),

administrative journals (Amtsblätter) and ministerial journals (Ministerialblätter) . The

official information contained in these mostly printed documents has long been regarded

Figure 79 – Number of times the specific problem was referred to in a list of submitted suggestions

5

4

4

3

2

1

0 2 4 6

Lack of application of / awareness for the legislation, cultural change

needed

More service, quality, formats

Competition problem between public

and private organisations

Change legislation

Reduce prices/ give information for free

We have no access to the required information

70




as being in the public domain . After all, publication of these documents in an official

journal is part of the standard dissemination requirement (see above) placed upon the

originating institution . However, in order to obtain enough information to be able to

launch the RfD products and services, the RfD project team took a period of two years to

conclude agreements with the Federal authorities and those of the 16 Federal States . An

excessive amount of management time was taken up negotiating with PSI holders who

had no policy on PSI re-use and were uncertain and insecure about re-use conditions

and charges .

The case study is a clear example of a general problem concerning the re-use of legal

and administrative information and is also observed in other EU Member States . The

problem is that public sector information, made available free of charge by PSI holders

as part of their standard dissemination duties, does not necessarily mean that the

information can be re-used in the sense advocated by the PSI Directive . Furthermore,

that making PSI available free of charge does not necessarily translate into no or even

low procurement costs for companies attempting to build added-value products and

services based on the information . An important lesson from the case study is that

greater effort needs to be put into implementing Article 7 as well as to monitoring

compliance . For PSI re-use to become truly attractive to innovative small and medium-

sized enterprises, as indeed the PSI Directive would wish for (see preamble points (3)

and (15) of the EU PSI Directive), a greater transparency with respect to PSI re-use terms

and conditions is needed to help reduce risk, to minimise the overall costs incurred in

procuring PSI and to thereby encourage innovation – especially amongst small and

medium-sized enterprises .

5.4 Conclusions for the Legal Sector

The survey highlights some fundamental differences between geographic and

meteorological information on the one hand and legal and judicial information on the

other . In contrast to geographic and meteorological information, legal and judicial

information is basically accessible to the public for free . That legal and judicial information

is universally regarded as being in the public domain is due to the fact that this type

of information has to be made public in a formal sense (i .e . promulgated) in order to

acquire the force of law . A second fundamental difference between geographic and

meteorological information compared to legal and judicial information is that legal and

judicial information can only originate from a single official source (e .g . parliaments,

governments and courts) and hence cannot be substituted .

The diversity and scope of legal and administrative information revealed by the survey

nevertheless highlights a pressing need for improvements in the dissemination of this kind

of information in terms of both information management practices and their technical

implementation . In this respect, specifications for a legal and judicial European data

infrastructure should be considered . Such specifications should address the way the

data is structured, stored and disseminated over the internet . By being able to include

such indicators as the volume of data accessed over the infrastructure, the specification

would be a valuable tool for monitoring the extent of re-use of legal and administrative

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5

information . Infrastructures set up on the basis of such specifications should strive to

actively include regional and local information producers such as lower instance courts .

In the case of administrative information, the survey shows that existing problems in this

particular area share similarities with problems encountered in the field of geographic and

meteorological information . Namely, that administrative information is spread amongst

a very large number of local sources . Furthermore, there is a complete lack of awareness

with respect to re-use amongst both PSI holders and re-users, crucial problems being

licensing and pricing as well as a general lack of transparency regarding conditions and

charges applied to re-use . The problems are also aggravated by the sheer variety of

documents that constitute administrative information . Further investigation into this area

requires that administrative information be studied as a category in its own right .

Yet, despite the diversity of legal and administrative information, the survey has shown

how the re-use of PSI from the legal and administrative sector has made an important

contribution in economic terms .

Over the last few years, better access to legal and administrative information in electronic

form together with the development of the internet has led, even in some traditional

economic sectors, to extremely high growth rates . By improving access to a greater

variety of information (in particular administrative information) and by bundling different

types of information, PSI re-use has led to the emergence of new business sectors . This

development is particularly noticeable amongst service providers .

An improvement in the provision of services, in turn creates displacement effects between

public bodies and re-users, which also has a positive impact on the economy .

One observable consequence of a displacement effect is where the PSI Holder makes

considerable improvements to their internet services . In the examples observed during

the survey, these improvements have taken the form of improvements to the structure

of databases, more regular updating, better search functions, customized newsletters,

alert systems, etc . Such improvements have in some cases made the business models of

service providers redundant in that information users turn to the services provided for free

by publicly funded bodies rather than those of commercial service providers . However,

new growth opportunities and innovation in other services compensate for this loss of

economic activity . Society generally benefits from the wider dissemination and diffusion of

legal and administrative information and these benefits also manifest themselves in terms

of general growth in the economy .

Nevertheless, despite the increasing dissemination of legal and administrative

information there are still some areas where the information is free to access (following

promulgation), but not available for free for the purpose of re-use (examples

here involve Germany, Spain and Rumania) . Inhibitors to the re-use of legal and

administrative information will cause problems for publishers of legal and judicial

information where such inhibitors continue to persist . In such cases, the problem areas

are virtually all the same: licensing, pricing, transparency and the de facto competition

between public bodies and private companies .

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6 Monitoring

The study has shown that in some sectors the Directive has had a noticeable impact and

has influenced the PSI re-use positively . However, many issues of the Directive are still

not addressed sufficiently by PSI holders . In order to raise awareness and to emphasize

the objective of the Directive, it is recommended that regular monitoring of selected key

indicators on a European level should be introduced . This monitoring should be aimed at

measuring progress from year to year in each country .

The study “Assessment on the re-use of PSI” shows that no single indicator can adequate

measure of re-use for all kinds of PSI and in all European countries . This monitoring

requires access to data on administrative processes which are not yet in all cases

monitored, and even less, published by public administrations . Therefore, the result

depends on the cooperation of the public bodies concerned .

Assessment of the re-use of PSI from the point of view of companies poses a different

set of problems . Companies affected by the Directive on PSI are mostly small, innovative

companies which cannot be easily surveyed . However, in most European countries,

professional associations have been established to represent companies in the relevant

economy sector, and these associations are adequate points of contact to evaluate the

impact of the re-use of PSI in their country and also expose barriers preventing such

re-use .

The following framework could allow an adequate assessment of the re-use of PSI in

Europe (for the GI sector):

1. Define a set of products essential to re-users at the European level.

For an improved evaluation, it is recommended that categories of digital products be

redefined to be more in line with re-user needs . For geographical information this could

be administrative limits, georeferenced vectorial street directories, toponymy, address

coordinates, orthophotos or aerial photography, digital terrain models, and detailed

vectorial topographic maps or cadastral maps .

In order to avoid over-complexity at the start of the monitoring, it can be initiated with

a small number of products in each sector . When the reporting of these indicators is well

established, the spectrum of monitored products can be extended .

If indicators are defined at a product level, they are easier to compare and they make the

topic more concrete . In addition, they help to raise awareness for the diversity of PSI and

its importance for business models .

2. For each of these products, define adequate indicators for each Member State.

For each of the categories of products, each country would choose adequate indicators,

considering its particular distribution system . Two kinds of indicators are suggested:

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6

� Income: this indicator was provided by most of the NMCAs in the survey . Although

it is not a direct indicator for the success of the Directive (as high re-use levels can be

achieved with low income), it is, in combination with the volume of re-used PSI, a major

indicator concerning the data policy of the NMCA . In some cases, it may make sense

to aggregate the income generated by the national authority with income generated by

private companies (value-added resellers, PPPs) and local administrations (see Figure 8,

Section 3 .1 .3) .

� Volume of re-used PSI: suitable indicators depend on the NMCA’s delivery model . In

the case of geographical information, the following types of indicators may prove

useful:

� Indicator based on the number of products sold . This type of indicator can only

be used when the data is delivered in the form of (digital) products (number of

downloaded files, number of edited CD-ROMS or DVDs, number of units sold

recorded in the accounting system, etc .)

� Indicator based on the number of users . This type of indicator can only be used

when access to the data is granted to identified users or companies (number of

registered users, number of licensees, number of customers, etc .)

� Indicator based on server access . When access to the data is provided online,

especially when access is free of charge, the two indicators above may be not

available . In that case, alternative indicators should be used (number of opened

sessions, downloaded volume, server load, etc .)

All NMCAs could choose at least one of these indicators (possibly several of them), that

is best adapted to their business model in order to provide a reliable information on the

volume of re-used PSI . For some products it might be interesting to monitor the prices in

order to make a pan-European comparison of absolute prices .

Detailed methodology for the evaluation of the indicators should be defined in each

country by the concerned NMCA, and submitted to the European Commission . Before

any agreed monitoring exercise is finalised, comments or advice on these indicators can be

provided by experts on the re-use of PSI .

In terms of GI, discussions on the definition of suitable indicators for monitoring the use

of online services can be raised on the periphery of the issues currently dealt with in the

implementation of the INSPIRE Directive .

This framework should allow changes in data policies: each NMCA should have the

possibility to choose new indicators if made necessary by a change in their business model .

3. Support national professional organizations in assessing the economic impact of PSI

and exposing barriers.

In contrast to public bodies, most private companies are not willing to disclose detailed

information about their activities such as the production of databases or the revenue

generated by particular products or services . Furthermore, no direct link can be

established by the companies between the re-use of public sector information and

economic results (see Figure 22, Section 3 .2 .4) .

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Considering these difficulties, the following approach is suggested:

� Questions should be adapted to the respondents’ willingness to answer:

� Identify barriers against the re-use of PSI by asking qualitative questions (availability,

quality, conditions of re-use) based on the products defined

� Assess growth in economic sectors related to PSI by analysing the total revenue and

employment volume aggregated at the level of an economic sector .

� Surveys should be carried out at the national level by professional organizations such as

associations or lobbies to ensure a better surveying of the potential re-users . In order

to improve comparability of the results throughout Europe, methodological and/or

financial support could be provided to these organizations .

4. Medium-term strategy: harmonization of the indicators at the European level.

Diffusion of best practice, cross-border cooperation and technical harmonization of the

data infrastructure (e .g . INSPIRE for geographical information) could contribute to a

convergence of the distribution systems for the re-use of public information across Europe .

This change should allow the construction of a consistent measurement framework for all

Member States .

7 Conclusions

Conclusion from the research is undoubtedly positive: growth rates have been reported in

every market segment under consideration . The improved access to information from the

public sector in Europe contributes to this success .

The results imply that EU Member States have made major changes to their work-flows,

processes and procedures in public administration . In particular, technical oriented changes

in the data policy such as delivery formats, delivery speed and number of products have

been pursued at high intensity . PSI is increasingly offered on Internet portals or by web

services, thus providing instant access to a large amount of regularly updated data .

In order to increase especially the commercial re-use of PSI, PSI holders should adapt their

policies regarding data delivery to the needs of their markets; simple licensing conditions

being a prerequisite for the promotion of PSI re-use, PSI holders should focus primarily on

this aspect .

In all three sectors, re-users are interested in obtaining more PSI . The demand for their

data is there . Even in the geographical information sector, which has experienced an

intensive phase of substitution by private geodata providers, public GI is of great interest

to re-users . Therefore, it is worthwhile putting an increased effort into setting acceptable

and user-friendly conditions for re-use .

According to the Directive, any applicable conditions for the re-use of PSI shall be non-

discriminating and exclusive arrangements shall be prohibited . While the survey itself was

not able to elicit quantitative data regarding discriminatory practices, the case studies

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6/7

and telephone interviews carried out to supplement the survey results confirmed the

concerns of the re-users about possible cases of such practices . Regarding the public

task matter, the biggest problem seems to be that specific laws in certain Member States

explicitly define the production of PSI originating material as a public task for certain PSI

holders . This leads them to carry out commercial activity in competition with re-users . The

fact that, for example, private publishers are eager to enter a part of the GI map market

indicates that there might not be a need for general activity of a public body in this area .

Investigating possible discriminatory practices is extremely tricky; therefore, it will be of major

importance to raise awareness, and to ensure high transparency in all those PSI holders

offering commercial services, especially when done in competition with its proper re-users .

The overriding majority of GI re-users had never heard of the PSI Directive or its

implementation at national level, even in the comparatively organized community of

GI re-users . Therefore, the study concluded that there is a significant lack of awareness .

Re-users are not familiar with the aims and objectives and, even more importantly, they

do not understand what the Directive can do for them in terms of content acquisition and

bridge building with PSI holders . The level of re-user information must be improved by

Member States, associations and the EU .

The research has shown that there are only very few cases of formal complaints, whereby

re-users have chosen to seek redress through legal channels . In most Member States

a formal complaint against a PSI holder must be taken to court; re-users responding

to telephone interviews stated that they considered that option as too uncertain, too

expensive and too time consuming .

As conflicts between PSI holders and re-users often consist of a mixture of legal issues,

they are of particularly dense complexity . Questions of copyright, privacy protection

and freedom of information are interwoven with requests for PSI re-use . Due to this

complexity, the outcome of court procedures is very uncertain . There is a need for low-

barrier channels of redress in each Member State .

To raise awareness of the Directive in Member States, regular monitoring of key indicators

should be introduced on a European level in co-operation with stakeholders . The most

important indicators of data delivery are income and data volume . In order to improve

the comparability of this monitoring, indicators should be defined at a product level . This

would also help to develop a set of standardized products in Europe . Furthermore, the

indicators must reflect the common business or delivery models of each sector . Therefore,

specific delivery conditions such as server access, free access or reseller partnerships

between holders and re-users can be taken into consideration .

The challenges of the information and knowledge-based industry has been understood

and tackled at the European level . The study has revealed the first positive effects of the

PSI Directive . The development of the information economy through a better access to

public databases raises essential issues which cannot be solved without involvement of the

national level . It is to hope that the responsible actors understand the opportunities linked

to the re-use of PSI and take actions to support these positive trends .

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Annex

A.1 Geographical information

Country Organisation ContactPerson Website

Austria BundesamtfürEichundVermessungswesen DIBernhardJüptner www.bev.gv.at

BelgiumNationaalGeografischInstituut;Institut

GéograhiqueNationalIngridVandenBerghe www.ngi.be

BelgiumGeneralAdministrationofPatrimonial

DocumentationPierretteFraisse fiscus.fgov.be

CzechRepublicCzechOfficeforSurveying,Mappingand

CadastreSvatavaDokoupilova www.cuzk.cz

Denmark Kort&Matrikelstyrelsen JensHollaender www.kms.dk

Estonia EestiMaaamet TanelHurt www.maaamet.ee

Finland NationalLandSurveyofFinland AnttiKosonen www.karttapaikka.fi

France InstitutGéographiqueNational PierreBillotey www.ign.fr

Germany BundesamtfürKartographieundGeodäsie HenningWalter www.bkg.bund.de

Germany(AdV)GermanyfortheSurveyingandMapping

AuthoritiesoftheGermanStatesWilhelmZeddies www.adv‐online.de

Greece HellenicMilitaryGeographicalService KyriakosChourdakis web.gys.gr

HungaryInstituteofGeodesycartographyandRemote

SensingSzabolcsMihálydr. www.fomi.hu

Ireland OrdnanceSurveyofIreland StephenCurran www.osi.ie

Italy IstitutoGeograficoMilitareItaliano GiovanniOrrù www.igmi.org

Latvia TheStateLandServiceoftheRepublicofLatvia MartinsLazdovskis www.vzd.gov.lv

LithuaniaNationalLandServiceundertheMinistryof

AgricultureSauliusUrbanas www.gis‐centras.lt

Luxembourg AdministrationduCadastreetdelaTopographie AndréPeffer www.act.etat.lu

NetherlandstheNetherlandsCadastre,LandRegistryand

NationalMappingAgencyTh.A.J.Burmanje www.kadaster.nl

Norway NorwegianMappingandCadastreAuthority KariStrande www.statkart.no

Poland HeadOfficeofGeodesyandCartographyStanislawaMoqillo‐

Suchowerawww.gugik.gov.pl

Portugal PortugueseGeographicalInstitute LuisaEsmeriz www.igeo.pt

Slovakia Geodesy,CartographyandCadastreAuthority KatarinaLeitmannova www.geodesy.gov.sk

SloveniaSurveyingandmappingauthorityofthe

RepublicofSloveniaUrosMladenovic www.gu.gov.si

Spain NationalGeographicInstitute SebastianMasMayoral www.ign.es

Spain SpanishDirectorateGeneralforcadastre AmaliaVelasco www.catastro.meh.es

Catalonia CartographicInstitutofCatalunya JordiGuimet www.icc.cat

Sweden Lantmäteriet AnnaSvedlund www.lantmateriet.se

UnitedKingdom OrdnanceSurvey NeilSutherland www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Association EUROGEOGRAPHICS BernyKersten www.eurogeographics.org

Association EUROGI JoãoGeirinhas www.eurogi.org

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A

A.2 Meteorological information


AustriaCentralInstituteforMeteorologyandGeodynamics

MartinKober www.zamg.ac.at

Belgium KoninklijkMeteorologischInstituut(KMI) ChristiaensMarc www.meteo.beCyprus MeteorologicalServiceCyprus AnthiMouktaroudi www.moa.gov.cy

Czech CzechHydrometeorologicalInstitute IvanObrusnik www.chmi.czDenmark DanishMeteorologicalInstitute EvaKronan www.dmi.dk

EstoniaEMHIEstonianMeteorologicalandHydrologicalInstitute

ValeriaGalushkina www.emhi.ee

Finland FinnishMeteorologicalInstitute LeaLeskinen www.fmi.fi

France Météo‐France PhilippeSantoni www.meteofrance.comGermany DeutscherWetterdienst JuergenChristoffer www.dwd.de

Greece HellenicNationalMeteorologicalService(HNMS) GalanopoulosOdysseas www.meteohellas.gr

Hungary HungarianMeteorologicalService GáborKis‐Kovács www.met.hu

Iceland VedurstofaIslands MagnúsJónsson www.vedur.isIreland MetÉireann JosephBourke www.met.ie

ItalyUfficioGeneraleSpazioAereoeMeteorologia(USAM)

SergioPasquini www.meteoam.it

LatviaLatvianEnvironment,GeologyandMeteorologyAgency

DanuteSneidere‐Dumberga

www.meteo.lv

Lithuania LithuanianHydrometeorologicalService ZitaRakickytė www.meteo.ltLuxembourg Administrationdel'Aéroport ClaudeAlesch www.aeroport.public.lu/fr/meteo

Malta MeteorologicalOfficeMalta CharlesGaldies www.maltairport.com/weatherNetherlands RoyalNetherlandsMeteorologicalInstitute TonDonker www.knmi.nl

Norway NorwegianMeteorologicalInstitute LillianSvendsen www.met.no

PolandInstituteofMeteorologyandWaterManagement(IMGW)

JanZielinski www.imgw.pl

Portugal InstituteforMeteorology RitaGuerreiro www.meteo.pt

RomaniaNationalMeteorologicalAdministrationofRomania

IuliaVelican www.meteoromania.ro

Slovakia SlovakHydrometeorologicalInstitute PavolNejedlik www.shmu.skSlovenia EnvironmentalAgencyofSlovenia BrankoGregorcic www.arso.gov.si

Spain InstitutoNacionaldeMeteorología FranciscoPascualPérez www.aemet.es

SwedenSwedishMeteorologicalandHydrologicalInstitute

MarcusFlarup www.smhi.se

UnitedKingdom MetOffice,UnitedKingdom NickBenson www.metoffice.gov.uk

Association EUMETSAT TanjaMollitor www.eumetsat.intAssociation ECMWF ManfredKloeppel www.ecmwf.int

Association ECOMET RenéHoenson www.ecomet.eu

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A.3 Legal and administrative information


Austria FederalChancellery,LegalInformation Dr.HelgaStöger www.ris.bka.gv.at

CzechRepublic ConstituionalCourtoftheCzechRepublic Mr.StanislavPlachy www.usoud.cz

Greece GreekNationalPrintingHouse Mr.EvangelosVoutsinakis www.et.gr

HungaryInternationalRelationsandEuropeanLegalOfficeof

theSupremeCourtofHungaryDr.GaborSzeplaki‐Nagy

www.magyarkozlony.hu,

www.magyarorszag.hu

Ireland OfficeoftheHousesoftheOireachtas Mr.JeromeFlanagan www.oireachtas.ie

Ireland OfficeoftheAttorneyGeneral MsPaulaMurphy www.attorneygeneral.ie

Latvia LatvijasVestnesis Mr.ArtisTropswww.vestnesis.lv,

www.likumi.lv

Spain JudicialDocumentationCentre(CENDOJ) Mr.JoaquínSilguero www.poderjudicial.es

Spain BOE‐OfficialSpanishGazette Ms.CarmenGomisBernal www.boe.es

UK OfficeofPublicSectorInformation Mr.JimWretham www.opsi.gov.uk

Belgium ServicepublicfédéralJustice‐ServiceInformation Mr.BertvanDamme www.moniteur.de

Denmark TheCivilAffairsAgency Ms.NinaKoch www.civilstyrelsen.dk

Finland MinistryofJustice Mr.AkiHietanen www.om.fi

Finland EditaLtd. Mr.TimoLepistö www.edita.fi

France Directiondesjournauxofficiels Mr.Pierre‐RenéLemas www.journal‐officiel.gouv.fr

Germany FederalOfficeofJustice FrauEvaSchewior www.bundesjustizamt.de

Germany MinistryofInterior,FederalStateofBrandenburg HerrMichaelHeine www.mi.brandenburg.de

Germany MinistryforLabour,FederalStateofBrandenburg HerrGerhardDonie www.masgf.brandenburg.de

GermanyMin.forAgriculture,EnvironmentandConsumer

Protection,BrandenburgFrauIrinaFranken www.mluv.brandenburg.de

Germany MinistryofJustice,FederalStateofBrandenburg HerrBurkardNathe www.mdj.brandenburg.de

Italy MinistryofJustice/CNIPA Mr.AlfonsoAndriani www.gazzettaufficiale.it

Luxemburg ServiceCentraldeLégislation Mr.DanielAndrich www.scl.lu

Portugal ImprensaNacional‐CasaDaMoeda,SA Mr.JoãoEstevesPinto www.incm.pt

SwedenVerva–theSwedishAdministrativeDevelopment

AgencyMs.CarinaLarsson www.verva.se

The full text of the study and annexes can be downloaded free of charge from

www.micus.de


Stadttor 1 • 40219 Düsseldorf, Germany

[email protected]

– Published March 2009 –

Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI)

Documents

Transcript of Assessment of the Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI)